Atheist of Love
by LovinLife4ever
Summary: How does the girl who spent her whole life hiding her feelings... deal with falling in love? TROYPAY. COMPLETED. NOW TRAILER FOR POSSIBLE SUQUEL INCLUDED
1. Deer in the head lights

(A/N Okay… this is a total Troypay, please tell me what you think okay?)

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the song I used at the end of this chapter.**

I sat quietly at the bon fire. Last year it would have been my scene, dancing by the waves with some guy who I didn't know and wasn't interested in getting to know, laughing at the drunken idiots, all that stuff, I just didn't feel like partying lately, or ever. I only went because I didn't want to be at home. It was bad lately, ever since my dad left for the seventh time. It had been four months now, but it still felt the same.

Enter Troy and Gabriella, the cute couple. I don't know when, but somewhere along the lines of this whole experience, people like them started to disgust me. They were always so happy with each other. It was like watching a Disney movie (A/N No comment please) where everyone had a happy life. It's not that I had anything against them. It's just that I could tell their future. I'd seen it all before.

Exhibit A: Their typical conversation

**Troy**: Hey Gabby

**Gabriella**: Hey baby, want to hang out tonight?

**Troy**: Can't. I promised a few of the guys that we would hang out

**Gabriella**: Cool, mind if I tag along?

**Troy**: Kind of… we haven't hung out it forever

**Gabriella**: Well, okay… if that's what you want.

**Troy**: No! It's not what I want! I just need some time-

**Gabriella**: AWAY FROM ME!?!?

**Troy**: No! I just need to hang with the guys tonight!

**Gabriella**: Oh… okay

**Troy**: Yeah… so how is the academic decathlon team doing?

**Gabriella**: Good, we're practicing really hard for the school year

**Troy**: Well we wouldn't want their brains to get rusty now would we?

**Gabriella**: Huh? How is that possible if their brains are in their head?

**Troy**: It was a joke

**Gabriella**: Oh… but it still doesn't make sense.

**Troy**: …

Okay. Enough said. I think you get the point. It's just that, it gets so unnerving… especially since Troy and I used to be best friends. Well… up until last year at least. Back when life was so much easier. I could tell they would only last a while longer… that or they would get married and know it wasn't working out and wouldn't do anything because 'it was too complicated'. My parents were exactly like them. And I was the result of one really big mistake.

I remember, we all saw it coming, but we were just like a deer in the headlights… we couldn't move, it was just like we were stuck there, in that position that we knew we might as well have just packed up in advance because we knew it wasn't working out. We just decided to see how long we could all pretend to make it work. I grew up pessimistic and never believed in love, sure I loved my mom and dad and brother and all. But not the romantic kind. I laughed countless times during the note book, during the titanic I wondered why not just sell the necklace on eBay, and when I watched A walk to Remember, I got kicked out of the theater for flicking gummy bears at the 'happy couple' on front of me, I tried to explain that they would break up in approximately a week anyways, but I still got kicked out… last I heard they broke up after finding out that they were both seeing other people. Does that prove my point? If not then you should meet my parents.

Anyways, I was at the bon fire doing nothing in particular… just sitting with my knees to my chest by the fire when it happened. I'd seen it a zillion times before. I didn't even know what Troy said but Gabriella turned and looked at him quickly, Troy shrugged and said something. She shook her head and said something like 'whatever'. It had begun. The down fall of Troyella. I could see it in her eyes, and the way he crossed his arms, like a barrier between him and her.

But then again, Troy had a barrier between him and everyone. I was used to it, being his friend for ten years. We were next door neighbors for like, ten years. Back then my mom was trying to escape from my dad… again. We were best friends since we were like, six. I knew that things were falling apart between us at around age 13, at age fifteen, Gabriella came to East High, by age 16 we were over. I remember the day it ended. It was just after school. Troy and Gabriella had gotten the lead roles in Twinkle Town, they were the cutest thing ever… to everyone but me. I remember exactly what happened…

_A blonde girl and a brunette boy both about the age of sixteen are hanging out by their high school. "My mom broke up with my dad again…I don't know if they'll be back together again though." The girl said._

_"I'm sorry Shar." The boy said._

_"Thanks, she say that everything will be okay though, but ." The girl paused, so maybe you can come over or something, you know it's been forever since we've hung out._

"_Shar, you know I wish I could, but I can't hang out today. My dad is going all basketball crazy." The boy said._

_"I bet that Gabriella girl will be there too." Sharpay said._

"_Shar, you know I would never ditch you for her." The boy said._

"_You did the last three days." She mumbled._

"_Well, we had a rehearsal." Troy explained weakly._

"_Oh please Troy! How come all of a sudden you're willing to join the drama club when I've been asking you for the past four years!? And do you hear the things she says? It's like she has no personality!" I practically yelled._

"_Yes! But…" Troy didn't even try to finish, he had nothing to say against that._

"_Look, what ever, I've been working on a new song for you, I want you to hear it, can you come over after?" Sharpay asked._

"_No we're having Gabriella over for dinner." Troy said without thinking. Sharpay looked hurt. " Shar-"_

"_Just forget it." Sharpay muttered then walked off. He didn't follow her, and he never heard the song._

I guess I took the hint… I didn't want to hold onto a dead relation ship like my parents, so even though it was incredibly painful, the next time he asked if I wanted to hang out, I said no.

Oh what ever, that was then… this is now. I wanted to go home, just not my home. It stopped being home when I was 14. A totally drunk Ryan came up to me.

"Hey Shar!" He said woozily and sat next to me by the fire.

"Hey Ry… are you sure you should be drinking that?" I asked, yelling above the music.

"Let the good times roll!" Ryan said, raising his cup. A bunch of people raised their cups too, though it was obvious that Ryan was the most wasted out of all of them. "Here, have some." Ryan said.

I gave him a small smile and shook my head "No thanks Ryan." I said.

"Oh come on Shar! Take it!" He said.

I took the cup, and took a sip of the liquid inside. It burned in my mouth but I held it, I took an empty cup next to me and spat it out, I had done it enough to make it look like I took a drink though. The way I saw it, the more I spat out, the less Ryan drank. "Thanks." I said.

"Okay! I've gotta go find Chad! Bye!" He yelled.

"Bye Ryan." I said slowly.

I sat there for about ten more minutes. Just sitting by the fire, doing nothing much. "COPS!" Someone yelled.

Everyone ran for their lives, a few drunk kids just stood there as there friends pulled them along, a few kids kicked sand into the fire, putting it out. Troy and Gabriella piled into Chad's dad's minivan and Taylor drove. And soon it was like the party never happened, the beach was clean besides a vodka bottle or two in the sand and a bunch of empty beer cans. Ryan rushed me to my car. I (being the sober one) drove him home.

When we got there, my mom was passed out on the couch, this is why I didn't drink, seeing this almost every night stopped me from wanting to, Ryan however didn't feel that way.

It was easy enough sneaking Ryan into his room. I just went to my room and worked on a song, the same one I'd been working on for the last year, worst of all it was a love song. Which leads me to a very interesting question… what love? I thought I didn't believe in love, but every once in a while, I came up with a new line.

They were home, Troy and Gabriella I mean. I saw it through my window, every once in a while she came over and they would watch a movie, usually it was a romance, tonight it was Ever After , Troy's least favorite movie back when we had to watch it in the fifth grade. How typical.

Tonight, for some reason, I finally got the chorus, I was somewhat satisfied by it, but I still didn't know how I, the Atheist of love, could be writing it.

_Maybe if I found a way_

_To get away, I'd get away_

_But for now, all I can do is stay_

_Maybe if you wanted me_

_You'd set me free, and I'd be free_

_But for now, all I can do is live in misery_

(A/N okay there is chapter one, the song is an original, so if it sucks tell me… but rephrase it to sound like an awkward compliment okay? Just kidding, but just go easy about the song, the rest can be a full on flame for all I care… just tell me what you think okay?)


	2. Too Soon for Jokes

(A/N Okay… I wanted to write more in this chapter so I apologize if it doesn't say much)

I woke up, it was the last day of summer vacation. And you could practically tell by the way it looked outside, every teenager in the relative area felt like hiding under the covers… that or they were hung over from the party the night before, that population included my brother, Ryan, he was a really heavy sleeper on days like these, but he didn't worry, my mom was more hung over than he was.

My mom… I'm not so sure if I can even call her that, but yeah. She was 33, do the math, she had me and Ryan at age 16 and was still making up for it. She was in this on-again-off-again thing with my on-again-off-again dad. When they were apart my mom would get really drunk half the time and sleep it off, the other half she would spend at a bar, trying to pick up some quick loser who seemed 'ready to commit'. He would usually break her heart and she would shrug and say 'just another lapse of reason I guess', then she would get drunk again. And when she and my dad were together… they pretended like that all never happened.

I got up and checked on Ryan, it was like a reflex ever since his first party. "Ry?" I asked. It was about noon, and Ryan was still recovering from his 2am puking fest, just a normal thing for me.

"Hm… Sharpay… my head." He squeezed his eyes closed, propped himself up and shielded himself from the sun with the other.

I came prepared with one of mom's 'smoothies' that she kept stock of in the fridge, it wasn't hard to figure out that it was some sort of hang over remedy that my mom only bothered to drink if she had to go job hunting (my dad's child care payment was enough to live of), he drank it and forced his eyes opened. "Thanks." He said, pressing his palm to his head. "That must have been some party judging by this head ache." He said.

"It's too soon for jokes, Ryan, you were way wasted." I said.

"Just leaving summer with a bang, right?" He yawned.

I shook my head. "Mom has a date with Geico tonight." I said, referring to mom's current drifter, he had a phony accent that sounded remarkably like the Gecko for the car insurance commercial.

"Geico has a name." Ryan said from under the covers. "And _Matt_ happens to be a nice guy."

"That's what you said about Drew, and Kevin, and Dave… you even said that about that Bones guy." I said.

"I thought he was joking about being in a gang!" He said.

"Yeah, he just needed a place to hide the crack, mom was sent to jail!" I said.

"Only for like, a week!" Ryan said.

"Yeah! But still! I mean come on Ryan! Aren't you tired of this!?" I practically yelled.

"Sharpay, my head!" Ryan said loudly.

"Oh… sorry." I muttered. I was tired of this, but what was I supposed to do? Tell Ryan off about drinking while my mom chugged down a few bottles a day? That wouldn't do anything.

I decided just to chill in the backyard. I was floating on one of those inflatable rafts wearing too-big sunglasses and reading a book that was covered up by the latest issue of Cosmo, wearing a string bikini (sue me it was freakin hot out!) and trying to act like the school's stereotyped Sharpay. I wore nice clothes, had friends across the country and didn't talk much to anybody (accept for Troy… but that ended a while ago) making me a snob in the eyes of my fellow East high folk.

In truth I couldn't care less about how Ashlee Simpson 'balanced her work and romance' so I read The Unwanted: A take on real life by real teens (A/N Not a real book), basically a collection of what most people would consider 'emo poems' I liked them, they weren't rash, or hormonal or 'written during a bad PMS' as Taylor so nicely put it. They were brutally honest, and they stopped me from going psycho, so what ever.

"Still reading your emo book?" Troy asked from his yard.

I scowled at him and placed the opened emo book/magazine on my stomach, keeping my place. "No, I'm reading about how split ends almost ruined Paris Hilton's life." I said, sounded enough like something out of that magazine. "So how was Ever after? I hear that if you watch it twice, they start to hear their voices." I shot back.

"It's an acquired taste." He said, obviously defending Gabriella.

"So is provolone cheese." I said.

Troy gave me ha-ha very funny smile and climbed over the fence separating our houses. "Is your mom home?" He asked.

"She's… out." I said, which was a somewhat accurate description of the state she was in.

"Cool, where's Ryan?" He asked.

"The same place my mom is." I said, still not lying. Troy jumped into the pool, fully clothed. "What the heck are you doing?" I asked.

"Swimming." He answered plainly.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me but why?" I asked.

"Because, I want to read about Paris Hilton's split ends too." He said, pulling the magazine off of my stomach and picking up the book. "No split ends in here. Just darkness hate and agony." He said.

"If you were a girl you would know that they are the same thing." I said, grabbing my book back and putting it on the pool side.

"I highly doubt that Paris Hilton said that, she doesn't know what Walmart is." Troy smirked.

"What do you want?" I asked.

Troy crossed his arms on the raft. "What's up? You haven't been you for the past few months."

"Well if you must know my fish died a tragic death last month and I just find it hard to cope. Why do you care anyways?" I asked.

"Because Goldy and I were your only friends, now spill." He said.

"Okay… I'll tell." I said quietly, letting a single tear slip.

"Really?" Troy asked, his face getting all serious.

I nodded. "This morning…" I started crying like a maniac. "A total freak jock broke into my back yard and wouldn't leave." I said, turning off the tears, he forgot that I could cry on demand.

"That was not funny!" Troy yelled and pulled the raft from under me.

I splashed into the water. I admit, it felt good in the sticky heat, but I didn't tell him that. "You idiot!" I said.

Troy shrugged. "What's the point of having a pool if you don't swim?" He asked.

"Avoiding your neighbors." I said getting out of the pool to dry off. "What was with the whole therapist act?" I asked.

"I wanted to know. Just because we don't hang out or talk anymore doesn't mean we're not friends." He said, getting out of the pool too.

"Really? No one gave me that memo." I said.

"Come on Sharpay, what's up?" He asked.

"Okay… I'm moving to Vegas and becoming a Brittany Murphy impersonator." I said.

"Sharpay!" He complained.

"What?"

"Just tell me!" He said loudly.

"What do you just assume that there is something going on in my life?" I asked.

"Because I know you… or at least I used to." He said. "Look, can't we just hang out or something? Like we used to?"

I rolled my eyes. "If it'll stop you from asking about my 'problems'" I said, adding air quotes.

Troy smiled. "Deal." He said.

"Okay, I'll be right back." I said. I went to my room, every step I took it was like 'what are you thinking' but I wanted to go at the same time. I changed into a denim shorts, a camo cropped top and converse shoes, a typical outfit.

I came back down and Troy was reading my book. "Funny, you don't look emo." He said looking up.

"And they say stalkers don't reveal themselves to you." I said, walking over to him.

"What's the writing in the margins?" He asked.

"My thoughts, I'm pretty sure I could submit these to the book and it would take them." I said.

"You should… this is actually pretty good, the poems I mean, they really aren't that creepy, they're just hard to get if you haven't been there." He said.

"And you have?" I asked.

Troy shrugged. "Well at least I get what they're saying." He said. "I like the one you wrote… _Torn between love and hate, I enter this world again, I try so hard to walk away, but I'm stuck here 'til the end_." He turned to me. "What is it about?"

"Life being flipped upside down because someone you love messed up." I said.

"So… who flipped your life?" He asked.

I hit him in the arm. "No one okay? I just wanted to see if I could pull it off." I said crossing my arms.

"And you did, that's not a good sign." He said.

"Look, do you want to hang out or not?" I asked.

"Fine, but can I ask you one question first?" He asked, and pouted, I'm dead serious here, Troy Bolton pouted, is there anything more deserving to be a Kodak moment?

"One question. That's it." I said.

"Why do you hate me?" He asked.

I almost fell backwards when he asked that, I'm not joking. "I don't hate you, we just… we… look Troy, I've been around messed up relationships my entire life, I can tell when something is at its breaking point. And we were. I just stopped pretending first." I said.

Troy nodded, he wasn't mad, surprisingly. "We did kind of crash and burn didn't we?" He asked.

The word DUH comes to mind. "So… where do you want to go?" I asked.

Troy smiled. "The only place we didn't get kicked out of." He said.

"Taco Bell?" I asked.

"No… well the only other place besides Taco Bell." Troy said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Paintball?" I asked.

"Well it is the only place where they'll let us in." He said with a wink. "Don't tell me you forgot how to play did you?"

"No, and I can still kick your butt any day." I said.

"I told you there was something wrong with the paintball gun!" Troy said.

"Oh please, you lost even when we switched guns!" I said.

"That was pure luck!" Troy said.

"I hit you over ten times, and didn't mess up my nails!" I said.

"Look, are we going or not?" Troy asked sounding aggravated.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine… but I still owned you big time."

Okay… that's chapter two. I take full responsibility- I mean credit for the delightful poem that was used in this chapter… I am not disturbed, I'm just good at this stuff so don't report me for it. I'll try to update ASAP since this chapter didn't say much… it was mainly character development


	3. Devestated isn't Quite the Word

"I still don't see how you can play 4 rounds of paint ball with me and NOT win one!" I said, as Troy walked me home.

"I think the guys at these places have something against me you know? They always give me the demented guns." He said.

"Don't blame the gun, you suck, and that's a fact." I said.

"You are the quietest person ever lately, and now you won't shut up about winning paintball?" Troy asked.

I looked down and crossed my arms. "I have my reasons." I said softly.

"Like what?" Troy asked.

I was about to answer when we got to my street and police cars and fire engines were surrounding my house. "What's going on?" I asked. Then I saw it. A cloud of smoke was gloating above the house. "Oh my god! Ryan!" I yelled and ran to the door, only to be stopped by a large officer, he pulled me away from the door by my waist and I tried to break loose, but it didn't quite work. "Let me in!" I screamed.

"I'm sorry miss, we can't allow you to enter, there has been a fire and we're still looking for any major damage." He said and let me go.

"My mom and brother are stuck in there!" I said.

"We've recovered a woman, early thirties, can you identify her?" He asked. This really wasn't helping my emotional state.

"That was my mom, Tina Evens, or Tina Sanders." I said, trying to stay calm.

"How can she have two last names?" He asked.

"Divorce and remarriage and divorce again." I said. "It gets mixed up in the records."

The man nodded. Just then men wearing gas masks pulled Ryan out of the house on a stretcher. "Is this Ryan Evans?" One of the men asked.

"Yes! Is he okay?" I asked quickly.

"He's fine… he inhaled too much smoke though, he'll need to stay over night at the hospital, and he burned his arm, so he won't be able to use it for a while." The man said.

"What about my mom? Is she okay?" I asked, tears flowing from my eyes.

"She was in the same room as the fire. It started because she was cooking something and neglected it for too long, it spread quickly. Both Ryan and Tina were passed out before the fire started." The man said. "Ryan Evans is not listed as a resident here though."

"He lives with my dad, he spent the night because we stayed out late." I explained. "Is my mom okay though?" I asked.

"Within reason, she is suffering severe smoke damage and will need a lot of medical attention, but she will be fine." The man said. "I have to go take them to the hospital, will you be going with us?" I asked.

I looked back, Troy was still standing at the sidewalk. "Can my friend Troy come? To wait with me?" I asked.

"Sure." The guy said, he carried Ryan to the ambulance and motioned to Troy that it was safe to come closer.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"There was a fire." I said. "My mom and brother will be fine." I said plainly. I knew this wasn't fine, this was anything but fine in fact.

Troy and I were stuck in the waiting room, I was pacing back and forth. "Are you okay Sharpay?" He asked.

"Yeah… just nervous." I said.

"Why? The doctor said it would be fine." He said.

"But…" I sat down next to him and lowered my voice to a whisper. "This isn't the first time I've been in this waiting room for my mom." I said.

"Is she okay?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No… she's not sick or anything she just, has a problem." I said.

Troy opened his mouth but then I heard someone else's voice. "Excuse me? Is there a miss Sharpie Evans here?" A man in a hospital uniform asked.

"It's Sharpay." I said standing up.

The man walked over to me. "We have taken a few tests and it appears that when the fire was taking place, your brother had alcohol in his system." Troy gave me a weird look. "So if you don't mind, can we pleas analyze your breath?" He asked.

"No, of course not." I said.

He pulled out a small machine and stuck a tube into my mouth, I breathed out and it beeped. "Hm… that's strange, you seem to be completely sober." He said.

"I am." I shrugged.

"But… your brother… and you… never mind." He said. "You can come and see them now." He said, turning to Troy. "You can go as far as the entrance."

I got up and followed him, he showed us the way to the room. Troy pulled me to a side. "He was drunk?" He asked.

"He was probably hung over from yesterday! Did you see how much the football team brought?." I said quietly.

"But it's the middle of the day!" He said. He took a deep breath and continued. "Look… if everything wasn't okay you'd tell me right?" I paused, usually I was so used to lying when it came to this stuff, but somehow I just couldn't… not today… not to him.

"Sharpay?" Ryan asked from inside the room. I pushed away from Troy and entered.

"Hey… are you okay?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'm busted, but I okay." He said. "What is Bolton doing here?" He asked.

I looked at the door way, where Troy stood uncomfortably. "We hung out while you were hung over." I said. "The doctor said that that you were drunk, that means that you somehow got your hands on more drinks. Where did you get them?" I asked crossing my arms.

"Mom doesn't lock the liquor cabinet, I knew she wouldn't notice." He said. I slapped him across the face before I could stop myself. "Sharpay! That hurt!" He said touching his face where I had slapped him.

"Well you got drunk and almost died because you were so out! How would that feel!?" I screamed.

"Sharpay! I don't drink when I'm dad's house! Which is most of the time! It's not like I have a problem!" He yelled, raising his arms, revealing a bunch of long IV tubes.

"You're in a hospital room, after a house fire that you were passed out through. What does that tell you?" I asked. Ryan was silent.

I walked towards the door angrily. How could he do this? And expect me to say 'Oh, well be more careful next time you decide to get drunk during a house fire!' I think not. "Shar…" Ryan said, barely above a whisper.

I turned. "And by the way… that whole 'I don't have a problem' thing? That's exactly what mom says." I said coldly. And left.

"What happened?" Troy asked.

"Nothing, let's just go." I said, still walking.

"But what about your mom?" Troy asked.

"She can take care of herself." I said.

Troy looked at me, like he was confused. "But-"

"Sharpay Evans?" Someone asked. Wow, people must really like interrupting Troy today.

"What now?" I asked.

A red head lady walked up to me. "I'm here about your brother's drinking issue." She said, I looked at her like she was crazy. "I'll need to ask you a few questions."

"For the last time! When I was five, no one hit me! I don't do drugs and I don't cut myself! I was never raped or robbed! I've never witnessed a murder unless you count CSI!" I said.

"I know… all we want to know is if there has been any trauma recently in your life!" The red head, Kate said… again. She wrote something into her book and looked up.

"No. So what? You've seen other drunk teenagers before right? My brother is just one of them. And besides, what does this have to do with me anyways?" I asked.

"Well… you didn't know?" She gave me a strange look.

"I didn't know what?" I asked.

"This is the thirteenth time your brother has been here for alcohol abuse." She said, at first I didn't believe her, but then it just became easier to believe, our family was normal… just like I had always thought it was. But it was horrible. "But it is the first time he has come in with the name Ryan Evans, and with family." I suddenly understood, he had like, fifty fake IDs, all of which looked exactly like him. They must have figured it out and decided to investigate now.

"Listen, Ryan… he's a good person. I swear I didn't know." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Okay." Kate said and nodded understandingly. "I'll let you go now." She said.

"Thanks." I said, thank you for what? Telling me that my brother is an alcoholic? Messing up my life even more? Take your pick.

I was just leaving the police station when I noticed someone waiting for me outside. I'll give you three guesses who. "How did it go?" Troy asked.

"What are you doing here?" I raised my eyebrows.

Troy shrugged. "I guess I just can't go, I'm involved." He said.

"Thank you _Jack_, but the Titanic already sunk." I said.

"Look, just because I've watched that stupid boat sink ten times in high definition with Gabriella doesn't make the statement any less true." Troy said.

"I know… but it does make it a cute cliché, you've known me long enough to get that I hate those ... just like you did." I said. Troy looked down, he knew that the whole 'tragic romance' thing just wasn't for either of us. "And by the way, the 'involved' one dies, along with like, half of the other people." I pointed out.

"He… he's addicted isn't he?" Troy asked.

"Huh?" I asked, I knew perfectly well what he was saying, I just couldn't believe he was saying it.

"Ryan, he… he's an alcoholic isn't he?" Troy asked uncomfortably.

"What!? How could you say that?" I asked.

"Well first of all he's been hospitalized for drinking, then there is the fact that he acts like it's a normal thing." He said. "Are you okay?"

How do I answer that question? 'Yeah! I'm okay, let's go play more paintball?' NO! I couldn't describe it, it was like I really saw it coming all along, it just didn't register in my mind as a legitimate accusation until like… five minutes ago. It sucked, it really, really sucked. I shook my head. "No." I answered plainly.

"Listen, I'm sorry how things ended with Ryan." Troy said, starting to walk with me. "It's not your fault."

"Really? Because that's what everyone always says. They come up and hug me and say 'oh poor thing, you must be so devastated that something like this could happen to little old you'" I said, putting my hands in my pockets. I picked a bad day to wear a cropped top and shorts- or more likely mom picked a bad day to set the house on fire. "But really devastated isn't the word. It's more of a disappointed type thing, you know whose fault it is, you know they disserve everything you want to say to them, but part of you just can't blame them." I said.

"Wow. I probably have no clue what it feels like right now for you… but that actually makes sense." Troy said.

"Thanks." I said. "That's all I could think of to say to you."

"Don't worry, I get the point." Troy said quietly, and then for some reason, he stopped walking.

He leaned in and was about to kiss me. And the weirdest part? I didn't want to stop him. It's hard to explain… the kiss I mean. It was like my world just stopped revolving around other people's mistakes, but only for like, five seconds, I bet you we would have made it to ten if Troy's phone didn't start ringing.

He looked down at it. "It's Gabriella." He said, clearing his throat. "I'd better go."

I nodded. "Yeah, she probably just got the Titanic special edition DVD." I said, It was harder to be sarcastic today, But honestly what was I supposed to say? I didn't want to pull a Gabriella.

He seemed surprised, like I just bounced back or something, he probably didn't notice me mentally begging him not to go, I was too good of a liar… or an actress or what ever. He simply nodded and left. And I was alone again.

_So if you want me to run into your arms, you know that I will_

_Your kiss is toxic, just enough to kill_

_It's just the awkward happiness you bring_

_If I had a choice I wouldn't change a thing_

A/N Okay… that chapter three. The song at the end is another part of 'Sharpay's song' AKA an original so don't look for it at best buy anytime soon (just kidding, I know it's not that good) she still get her own writing or why she's writing it so yeah… Okay, I'm updating pretty quickly for myself… so tell me if I'm rushing the plot, kay?


	4. Now You Know

I got home and crashed, the house wasn't totaled, the kitchen melted though. The hospital called like, eight times asking if I wanted to stay the night, I said no right away, I didn't feel like hanging out with my 'family' tonight. Gabriella came over to Troy's place again, tonight it was Tuck Everlasting, the guy was hott… but that's it. Boring much! I fell asleep at like, two in the morning though, and I woke up at noon.

I looked out my window and it all came flooding back to me. Ryan, my mom, the house. All of it. And then I realized, it was the first day of school! CRAP!! I changed into a short white skirt, and a pink tank top, I fixed my hair and ran out the door. I got to East High, got to my class which was drama (thank god) and sat down in the back, on front of Troy and next to Gabriella. "I'm sorry Miss Darbus… my alarm clock-"

"You needn't explain my dear, to be truthful no one expected you to be here at all." She said. And that's when I noticed the looks, the looks that I got from the entire class. "We're quite sorry to hear about your brother, he seemed like such a harmless, young, gifted child." She finished.

Hear about Ryan? EVERYONE KNOWS!?!? Who could have told them? The only people who knew were me and… no way. I turned around and looked at Troy who immediately sunk down into his chair. "Miss Darbus? Now that I think about it, I do feel sort of, depressed, may I have a moment?" I asked.

"But of coarse dear, now come back when you're ready." She said and I walked out of the room.

How could he? How could he do this to me? To Ryan? To my life? I wanted to go home and just stay there, I didn't care if I was ditching or whatever, I just wanted to leave. "Sharpay! Wait!" Troy called from behind, typical, just typical.

"You told them!? I can't believe you!" I yelled in his face.

"I only told Gabriella… and all she wanted to do was help." He defended.

"Oh yeah, by telling the whole school?" I asked angrily.

"I'm sorry! I had to tell her, she was worried." He said.

"For some reason I highly doubt that." I said, I knew that all she wanted to do was help… but I was having a meltdown here! "Listen, I appreciate the effort and all, but what I really need now is for people to treat me like the usually do and just leave me alone!" I said. I stood there for a minute, waiting for him to respond, only he didn't. I put myself back into normal mode and walked back into class… Troy didn't follow.

The rest of the day was a blur, I avoided the weird looks and everyone left me alone. It wasn't the way I wanted it, but I survived. It was at the end of the day when everything got bad. Gabriella popped up out of no where (as usual) eager to do her Girl Scout good deed of the day. "Hi!" She said.

I gave her a forced half smile. "Hey." I said plainly.

"Look, Troy told me about your brother and mom. And I just wanted you to know that I and the whole school are here for you. And we all totally support your decision to stay alcohol free! I mean, who would do that?" I let that one slide, she was just trying to be nice anyways. "So I got together with the whole school and in just one day we got all of this stuff!" She said, she pulled out a trash bag of things, there was some canned food, shampoo, soap, deodorant… and some other junk. "It has some stuff that you might need while your mom and brother are in the hospital."

I shook my head. I couldn't let that one go. "So that's what you think I am? Some kind of charity case? I don't want your pity gifts, I'm fine!" I said.

Gabriella looked at me as if I was in denial. "It's okay to admit you need some help… Oh my gosh! I just had the best idea! We could have a fund raiser! My uncle can get food from his restaurant! We could have clowns! And carnival games! And Troy and I could sing!" This went on for like, five minutes. I couldn't take it. I silently slammed my locker and turned around, without forgetting to kick that stupid charity bag of hers over, scrambling the junk inside all over the school hallway. I left and Gabriella was just in shock, as if someone had just burst her little bubble of humanity. Wow.

I wanted her to just get off my case. I didn't need any help… well not the kind that she had to offer. I just wanted someone who I could talk to about both my life and other junk. The only people like that are the ones that you've known since the fifth grade… and in the fifth grade I was the same outsider I am now, only I've been in a few plays since then.

I went home and practiced my monolog for the winter musical. I loved acting, because I knew that after I started acting, I stopped being me, and I didn't have to deal with my life… instead I could deal with my character's issues, all of which were conveniently written in my script. Acting was so natural to me, it was not the type of thing people expected me to be good at, but I was. Gabriella beat me for the lead of one school play, to tell you the truth, I couldn't care less. Though I must say, though she has a good voice, Gabriella is a horrible actress. She would look like she was lying to the audience, like she was scared and would break into tears at any moment. It was pretty bad, but her novice acting skills weren't what bothered me. It was her total outlook, she never said anything against anything. Also she just didn't get the fact that I just liked things the way they were. I respected Gabriella for starting the revolution of mixing cliques, but I just wanted to be left alone.

Now wasn't the time for another revolution. She just didn't get that I didn't want –nor did I need- to be saved. I just wanted to be left alone… for just like, two seconds! I couldn't help but be mad at Troy also. I mean, did he honestly think that if I were there that I would want him to tell Gabriella? If so then I don't think he knew me that well to begin with. I walked to the hospital, only because I didn't want to be anywhere near Troy at that moment. I was having such a bad day I almost forgot about the kiss… the kiss. It was a good kiss, but it was too short. I didn't know how I could have felt that way at that moment, I was really mad at him, but something in me still wanted to talk to him, to make him laugh, I couldn't even stop myself from wanting to kiss him again. I was so torn, my stomach twisted just thinking about it.

I wished I could un-kiss him… Troy I mean, it was weird, like I wanted to hate him, I knew I should hate him, but I couldn't. It was stupid. Anyways, I got to the hospital and went to the front desk. "I'm here for Ryan Evans." I said to the lady at the reception desk.

She typed some junk into her computer and turned back to me. "He and Tina Evans are no longer staying at this hospital, they checked out a few hours ago." she leaned in. "They left with police officers, they said something about something about community service." She said.

I huffed. "Thanks." I said. I didn't mean to sound rude, but seriously. I decided to give up on the whole search for mom and Ryan, they were probably expecting me to show up all teary eyed and wishing them the best of luck… they probably even expected me to offer to do all the community service with them, Ryan was a minor so they probably let him off with a warning. But mom? She probably gave them some sob story about how her life was falling apart and she only drank to ease the pain. Sure, it was true enough, but she not only did that to herself, she did it to Ryan too.

My entire life, Ryan was like my guardian angel, but at the same time I had to look out for him. He was my rock, up until a year ago when Ryan went to Chad's post-prom after party. The quarterback brought the 'mystery liquid' but everyone took a sip or two. Even me, it was one sip and it tasted like fire. I spat it out and threw the cup away. Ryan on the other hand couldn't get enough of it. I remember his exact words. _Lighten up Shar, it's just one night._ Those were the words that I said every night to myself, after Ryan went back to dad's house. It was just one more night. And then it might change.

You get the point, right? Because now I sound really pathetic. I got home and went straight to my room. I know the officer's told me that the foundation may be partially melted too, and it may not be too safe up there. But after the gave me the whole 'it's pretty safe, but we may be wrong' speech, I figured it was just probably code for 'we don't want to get sued' so I went up there anyways.

Once I got to my room, guess who was waiting for me there? Not Troy this time. Gabriella. "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked bitterly. Okay, I said it. All of this was making me bitter, but who wouldn't be in this situation?

"I just thought I'd stop by and see what's up." She said. "You really shouldn't leave the back door opened."

Gee Gabriella, you're right. My mom and brother are alcoholics and there's a psycho standing in the middle of my room, that's exactly what I should be thinking about. "Thanks for the warning." I said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." She said. Wow. That's all I can say. "So listen… Troy was really upset today that you were mad at him. I think it might have been because of me."

Thank you for pointing that one out! I never would have guessed! "It's not that… it's just that he had no right to tell people about it." I said, trying to sugar coat it just a little.

Gabriella smiled her 'everything is going to be alright' smile. "I know… but we're all just trying to help. If there is anything that we can do, just call me or Troy or really any-"

"We kissed." I blurted out. And I didn't have to explain… she knew exactly what I meant.

A/N: Cool… I made a cliff hanger… I didn't know I could pull one of those off. So now basically everything is out in the open. What will happen? I'll try and update soon. This chapter was mostly Sharpay's thoughts. So I'll try to get more action into the next one. Tell me what ya think.


	5. My Start of Something New

"We kissed." I blurted out. And I didn't have to explain… she knew exactly what I meant.

"But…" She started. "You and Troy… you weren't even friends."

"We were… a long time ago. I'm sorry, I never meant for this to happen." I said.

Gabriella silently let tears slip from her eyes. "I-I didn't think… that you." She stopped talking and started crying openly.

"It wasn't supposed to happen. I was confused and hurt, and I let it happen… I'm so sorry." I said. I knew it wouldn't do any good now though.

"I-I've got to leave now." She said and walked out the door. I didn't stop her. I knew from experience that it would just make things worse.

I collapsed on my bed. I didn't mean to tell her, it just slipped out. She should know that it was probably no big deal to Troy… just one of those friendly kisses, or the ones that you just have to forget… but that wasn't the case for me… I had it bad. I ended up hurting someone who just wanted to help me. I hated being in this position. At least when you're the victim you know you're not the one to blame. But feeling that horrible… the causing that same feeling for someone else? Indescribable. And the worst part was that I wanted to kiss him again. A month ago I would laugh at myself for even thinking about saying this stuff… but here I am. The girl with the touch of death, everything I came near –and everything that bothered to come near me- ended badly.

I felt like crawling under a rock and not coming out until graduation. How much of a cliché is that? But seriously, I felt really bad about it. It would have been so much easier if she just slapped me, because at least then I could feel some sort of justification. But she had to be all Gabriella-ish and not do anything.

Okay, back up like… two paragraphs. Did I just say I 'had it bad'!?!? I have never, ever uttered that statement before in my life! And now I'm going all insane over some guy that I knew since kindergarten? This is just all too pathetic. I wanted at that moment to just move. Like to Paris or something. At least everyone kisses in Paris and no one ends up crying! In Paris, there was no Troy Bolton… the source of my current issue. Therefore, in Paris there is sanity. But I knew that hat most likely wouldn't work, considering my mom and brother are kind of in the legal system right now, me leaving the country on pure whim would seem somewhat shady.

I just realized… this was the first time in a long time that I finally hit a focus on my life… not on someone else's. It was a weird feeling, but good. Like I was liberated or something. I decided that Gabriella had a right to know about the kiss, and the sooner she found out the better, I didn't say it out of spite, and I wasn't bragging about it. So therefore, I shouldn't feel bad about how she reacted. It didn't totally cure my guilt, but it helped enough that I managed to let myself leave the house.

I got outside and there was a police car by my house (I've been seeing those a lot lately) waiting for me. My mom got out with an officer and walked up to me. "Miss, we need you to be called up as a witness in the trial against Tina Evans concerning Ryan Evans." He said.

"Wait… I thought that they were already sentenced community service?" I said.

"That was before Ryan Evans' story concerned you." The officer said.

"Me?" I asked.

"Were you aware of Ryan Evans' drinking problem?" He asked.

"Yes. I tried to get him to stop but he wouldn't." I defended.

"Is it true that Tina Evans was aware and participating in Ryan Evans' drinking problem?" He asked me.

"I-I don't know. Mom?" I asked.

My mother looked down. Almost ashamed. "Sharpay… I-"

"You gave him alcohol? You almost killed my brother!" I screamed.

"Do you think I'm proud of what I did?" She asked, starting to cry.

"No but you don't know what could have happened! Your son almost died because of you. And he still may die. You may have taken away his entire future! And do you know what? You messed up my life too." I said.

My mom started uncontrollably sobbing. "I-I didn't mean for all of this to happen. I didn't know he was drinking when he was with your father. I thought it was no big deal." She said. Her age was 32, you could tell too. She was 'hott' as a lot of people described her and she was looking for true love, just like Gabriella. I guess that's why I always gave Gabriella such a critical view, I'd seen exactly what people like her end up like.

I shook my head. "I'll testify." I said.

My mom looked shocked, as if she was half expecting me to refuse and start a petition or something, if she wanted that she should have had Gabriella as a daughter. "Thank you Miss Evans." The officer said and led my mom away.

Another man walked up to me. "Because of this, your house has been declared a crime scene. Please collect all your necessities for the next week or do and leave by seven tonight. If needed you can stay at the police station" He said, handing me a copy of the warrant.

I nodded and walked the opposite direction as they pulled my mom back into the car and drove away. I couldn't believe all of this was her doing. There was no solid proof that she supplied Ryan alcohol, but I could just tell by looking at her face that it was true.

I took a walk, not going anywhere for an hour or so. Then I came back and packed. It was clear to see that someone had already taped off Ryan and my mom's rooms. I got my stuff and packed up. The police were scheduled to come at around seven and I was waiting outside at six thirty. "Where are you going?" Someone asked.

"No where." I said. We all know who asked right? Troy.

"No really, what happened?" He asked.

"Why should I tell you? So you and Gabriella can have a bake sale or whatever?" I asked.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." He said.

I turned and looked, he was sitting in his room and talking to me through his window. "Why are you being so nice?" I asked. "I told Gabriella about…"

"Never mind her… she was sad, but she knows we're just friends." Troy said. Yeah… Gabriella knows we're just friends. What a relief. Wait… WHAT AM I SAYING!?!?!?!?!?

"Is she mad?" I asked.

"Only that I didn't tell her, she knows it was just a stupid mistake. I'm pretty sure you convinced her to back off though." He smiled. I let out a small laugh. "So where are you going anyways?" He asked.

"To the police station. I'm stuck there for like… a week. My house is officially a crime scene." I explained.

Troy shrugged. "Why don't you stay here?" He asked.

I raised my eye brows. "Me? Staying in the same house as you? Are you sure Gabriella won't like, kill me?"

Troy smiled. "No, but she might just start sending you numerous fruit baskets." He said.

I smiled. "Don't you have to ask your mom or something? And won't it be a distraction from football season?" I asked.

"It's basket ball and no, nothing major is happening until spring." He said. I knew it was basket ball. If I wanted to I could tell him his team number, and the date his first fifty point game, and how he got into b-ball in the first place. I knew everything about him, but I figured that it would be better if he didn't know I was keeping track.

"What about your mom?" I asked.

"I know she'll say yes." He said.

I thought about it. "I don't know if I should… I'd be closer to mom and Ryan at the police station…" I trailed off. I was trying really, really hard to want to be with mom and Ran in their 'time of need'. But I couldn't, I'd honestly be with Troy's family. As far as the whole basket ball related pressure went, it was really non existent now. Well at least on my standards. "Okay." I said.

"Huh?" Troy asked.

"If you were seriously serious… then I'd love to stay." I said.

Troy seemed surprised… but in a good way. Almost excited. "Okay… I'll go ask." He said. I could hear him running through his opened window though, he was trying to hide it, I could tell.

Soon the front door opened, and Troy motioned for me to come in, I shrugged and went inside. I took a look around their house, our houses were way different. Mine was like one of those things that you see in those furniture stores, the perfectly decorated house, almost like a very extravagant hotel. Troy's was more of the place that you could imagine living in, I liked his better, it was more comfortable looking. Troy's mom was in the foyer. She smiled. "Sharpay! I haven't seen you in so long!" She said, pulling me into a hug.

"Nice to see you too Mrs. Bolton." I said.

She let go of me. "I heard about what happened, and I'm sure that you are tired of people telling you that they're sorry for what happened. I'd love to have you stay with us." She said. I loved Mrs. Bolton, she was a great person. More of a mother than mine ever was. She was like the mother I wish I had, strict but understanding. I know a lot of people wish they had young mothers but I wish I had her.

"Mom…" Troy said. I guess he'd expected her to be a little more subtle. He knew that I was hurt when he told Gabriella, but it was different with his mom. It actually saved me the trouble of explaining the whole thing to her myself.

I smiled to show that I was fine. "I'd love to stay Mrs. Bolton." I said, but I was looking at Troy when I said it. He smiled back, I felt a small rush of excitement. This, if anything was the closest thing that I've ever had to a 'start of something new'.

A/N: Okay… so there is chapter five, I really wanted to update fast. Can you believe that Gabriella is so trusting? Hope ya like!

**OKAY: This is sort of important, in reviews please tell me any songs that I could use for solo or pair auditions of TROY, SHARPAY, GABRIELLA, and who knows maybe I'll find a way to throw RYAN into the auditions. Thanx for the help guys! I'll try to update ASAP **


	6. Someone to Deffend Me

It was like, 8:30 and I was at Troy's house, I had changed into shorts and a tank top and was crashing in their guest room, across the hall from Troy's room. Mrs. Bolton came in. "Are you comfy?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said. I was looking out the window to see my house next door. There were people standing on front of it and they were all 'observing' my home. Apparently they thought Ryan was a drug addict as well as an alcoholic.

She walked over to me and patted my back reassuringly. "It'll be fine, whatever they find." She said.

"I know." I said. Trying to sound sure.

"Mom?" Troy called from the doorway.

Mrs. Bolton smiled. "I'll go make dinner for your father, you two can have a moment." She said happily. She was aware of our past as friends.

Troy entered the room cautiously. I smiled, I knew he thought I was fragile, I probably was… I was just exceptional at hiding it. "Hi." He said.

"Hi." I said dumbly. I looked down, it was really hot outside despite the time of year, but I sill felt weird wearing short shorts and a tight tank top on front of my long time best friend who I all of a sudden have a crush on. I pushed my hair back into a high pony tail, I felt a blast of cool air into the room, the air conditioning had just turned on and was not on at full blast yet. "Thanks for letting me stay with you." I said.

"No problem, I wanted you to stay." Troy said, then mildly blushed. I smiled, it was like we were both begging to flirt with each other, but no one dared.

"I missed hanging with you, you know? Like hanging out like this." I said.

"Yeah, I missed you too." He said. All of a sudden something lit up inside of me. He didn't just miss laughing with me, or playing paintball with me. He missed me as a whole… including my occasional dramatic fits, my outer layer that protected me from getting hurt constantly, he missed it all. I gave him a warm smile and Troy smiled back, his stormy blue eyes gave away his happiness to be in the same room as me again, I'm sure my mysterious brown eyes (or so I've been told) did the same. "Listen… Sharpay." He said.

"Yeah?" I asked, smiling like a moron.

Troy seemed tongue tied "Did you ever think that… maybe that kiss wasn't-"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was like… either the answer to my prayers or my worst nightmare. I couldn't breathe for like, a minute, my heart started pounding in my ears and the heat seemed to go up like ten degrees. "Um…" I looked at Troy's face, it was blanks, sort of nervous, sort of surprised, but mainly blank.

"Okay, visiting hour is over." Troy's mom said, she was standing at the door with Troy's dad. "What was going on in here it was dead silent?"

"Staring contest. I bet him that I was still more focused." I said. Troy didn't move, he was still in shock.

Troy's dad smiled. "Okay, well let's get to bed. Troy, wake up early for some warm ups, we have to work hard before basket ball season if we want to stay at the top." He said. Once again, I noticed that he used the word we. Troy hated it when he did that, it made him feel like both of their dreams were up to him. At least that's what Troy told me when we were friends.

"Okay dad." Troy said weakly, he really almost wheezed it.

"Are you okay? You're not sick are you?" He asked.

Troy shook his head, not even bothering to talk anymore. He cleared his throat and smiled briefly in my general direction before bolting from the guest room, closely dodging his parents. They gave me a strange look ad I shrugged. I couldn't get to sleep that night, I was cool enough but I felt like I needed to make a choice, it was the worst choice I've ever had to make.

This is insane. First, I don't even believe I love, next I find myself falling for the least likely guy ever, then I find myself living in his house and having to choose whether to keep my safe normal life and not be with Troy. Or I could go with Troy, and possibly lose all my structure. I didn't need this... not now anyways. I was so torn between it all, I could barely function. I didn't eve know if Troy loved me like I loved him, but still part of me would jump at even half a chance at Troy. Did I just use the word love? Was this love? I don't know. I probably never will, but still, even with all those doubts, I was still torn, most of me wanted Troy, but the rest of me was enough to keep my feet on the ground. All those thoughts swirling in my head kept me awake. Luckily/ unluckily I wasn't alone. I could hear Troy across the hall, pacing back and forth. And why wouldn't he be? He was the one seeing someone. I could see him through his opened door, and there was a brief, deadly moment when our eyes met, we both knew what we were thinking about, but we had to avoid each other. It was just as scary as when I came home and the house was on fire. Only now, it was us, and we couldn't do anything to stop it.

I woke up early that morning (surprisingly… I have no clue how I got to sleep) at like six. I washed my hair, blow dried, manicured, pedicured, dressed, accessorized, and picked the perfect pair of shoes before anyone else was up. I ended up in a jean mini skirt, a plain black tank top and a loose My Chemical Romance hooded jacket (yes… I listen to them) and vans shoes. I looked okay… if you were into that sort of thing (which East High wasn't). I checked the mirror and left, nearly colliding with Troy in the process. Despite having a hard night, I looked refreshed and rested… unlike him. It was obvious that he just woke up, the bed head was undeniable, especially with the shaggy hair style. I offered a half smile. "Hi." I said. What is with us and saying hi!?

"Sharpay." He said, as if he forgot I was temporarily living across the hall."Um… I-I think… um-"

"Troy! Hurry up and get dressed or you'll be late for school!" Troy's mom yelled.

Thank you Mrs. Bolton! Troy gave me an awkward smile and ran to the bath room. I felt stupid, like there were hidden cameras everywhere… it was like I half suspected him to be pranking me with Chad or something. It was depressing. I took my car to school since it had been inspected the day before and I had permission. I got to school and resumed my role as the invisible girl. Gabriella stayed away from me, just like nature intended, and for like, 10 seconds, my life seemed like it normally was. Then it happened. I got to my locker and someone had written in red marker and in big bold letters SLUT. Everyone stopped and stared. I was shocked. Who would write that? And why?

Gabriella and her tribe of mathletes all walked by. Gabriella stopped and frowned. "Isn't that your locker Sharpay?" She asked.

"Yeah Gabriella, I'm sure you had nothing to do with this right?" I scowled at her.

She gasped… and not one of her bad actress gasps, but a real one. "I swear! I had no clue!"

Taylor… the co-mathlete tribe leader. Stepped up and smirked. "I guess you can't melt solid ice." She said. "We all know what happened with you and Troy."

I tried my hardest to stay calm. I mean, what do I say? 'I like your boyfriend- maybe even love him and he likes me back'? NO! "Listen, what happened was-"

"A _slutty_ mistake." Taylor said.

Gabriella turned to Taylor. "Did… did you do that?" She asked, almost fearfully gesturing to my locker. Her friend _was_ pretty forceful.

"Someone had to show Sharpay what happens when bitches like her try to steal our boyfriends." She said coolly.

"Taylor! What's wrong with you?" Gabriella asked.

"Nothing. Its icy here you have to worry about. She kissed your boyfriend." Taylor said. This obviously affected Gabriella, but thank god it didn't mess up her morals. "What's wrong with you anyways? You can't use your drug addict brother and your sad story mom as an excuse forever!" She screamed in my face. That hurt. I didn't realize it, but a few tear drops slipped my eyes. "Oh. Is the ice queen crying now? I guess now she knows how it feels to be one of us. We don't have mansions or super rich daddies. We have to deal on our own! And when we try to help you? This is what happens! You use our trust to try to steal everything from us! Even though you already have everything!" She didn't know anything. I've met Taylor's family, and they didn't live in a mansion, but her parents were still together and actually knew that they loved each other. Her little brother was a junior high football star with a 4.0 grade point average and her sister graduated from Yale a year early to become a psychologist. Taylor fit in perfectly with her life. Her parents didn't expect her to be like her siblings but still, she did. It was like heaven, and she didn't even see it. "Why don't you just go and-"

"Just leave her alone Taylor." Someone said, stepping on front of me.

"Troy, she kissed you and practically broke Gabriella's heart." Taylor said. Gabriella faded into the background as her boyfriend defended me, not her. I felt bad, but a part of me that I couldn't get to stop, liked this feeling. Having someone to defend me, I've had a body guard for the first week when my parents divorced, and he couldn't defend me like Troy did that very minute. It was something I'd never had before, and I liked it, but still, I couldn't make myself feel totally safe around him. He _was_ still Gabriella's boyfriend.

"Actually… I kissed her." He said.

This was the last thing Taylor needed to hear. She shook her head and backed away. Gabriella had already been gone, she was most likely crying in the girl's bathroom. "Thanks…" I started before I realized Troy was giving me that look, he was staring me down, just like he did when he was about to kiss me. I stopped breathing and just stood there, almost afraid to move. Troy stepped back and without even so much as a smile, he walked away.

A/N Wow… dramatic. School just ended for me, like a half an hour ago so I decided to put the final touches on this thing as a happy school is out present. I'm really getting into this story, usually I have trouble with plot consistency but this is actually one of those things that I can't stop writing.

**Okay, I've had two great song suggestions that I'm thinking of using but if you guys have any more songs that you think I can use for the musical auditions for any character just tell me in a review. Thanx for the help!**


	7. Too Important to Me

The rest of the day went on fine, I was ignored, by everyone… including Troy. What happened this morning? Was he mad? Was he trying to tell me something? Did he mean it when he said the kiss wasn't an accident? Was that what he was going to say anyways? It was just infuriating. And to make it worse, auditions were coming up, no word on the play yet, but I heard that everyone would be auditioning. Homework –as always- wasn't an issue, I finished it all in free period. I was listening to my iPod and reading my 'emo book' in the guest room when Troy walked in. (Living in the same house as the guy you have a major crush on is pretty awkward at times like this)

"Hey." I said casually.

Troy smile awkwardly and nodded. "Look… about what happened earlier-"

"It's no big deal." I said, without even so much as lifting my head. "I'm used to it, don't worry, thanks for getting them off my case though."

"No big deal? Sharpay you were crying!" He said in an annoyingly caring tone.

"Look, I appreciate that you've all of a sudden decided to pop up and save the day or what ever, after decided to not acknowledge my existence for two years, but I can handle it. Go start making pop corn, Save the Last Dance is coming on Starz tonight, Gabriella should be over soon." I said, fast enough so that he could just barely comprehend the words.

"Sharpay… I don't want to see you hurt like this." He said. "I care about you."

A part of me loved hearing that, but the rest was enough to keep my guard up. "I'm fine. Just because everyone around me seems to be falling apart doesn't mean I can't be a perfectly normal American teenager." I said defensively.

"No… but Sharpay, I can't even think about anything else because I'm too afraid that you might be talking to a cop, or getting arrested because of all of this. And I can't let that happen… you're too important to me." He said.

I let those words sink in, I didn't know if it was a compliment or something else. I just stood there. Speechless, wanting so much to just let him know that I was scared too. "Troy… I-"

"Hello? Troy? It's Gabriella, I heard that Save the Last Dance is coming on Starz, and since I don't have those channels can I watch it with you?" Gabriella called from downstairs.

That was it, the moment was ruined. I raised an eye brow. "You gave her a key?"

Troy looked surprised. "Actually… no."

I smirked and gave him an 'I told you so' look. "Now don't you wish that you'd started making that pop corn early?" I asked.

Troy left the room and I was happily alone again. I felt relieved when he left… which I'm guessing is a normal crush/ love-from-the-bottom-of-my-heart type thing. I was bored out of my mind for a while before I realized that it was like… ten p.m. and I was starving! I looked around the room, in my bag, and in the guest bathroom for something… anything to eat and all I found was Listerine… which didn't really help. Okay, all I had to do was get downstairs to the kitchen with out being noticed by little miss save the world. Not an easy task but I was seriously hungry. I left the room quietly and went down the stairs. I looked into the living room. Troy had made pop corn and they were sitting, Gabriella was making commentary on something about Julia Stiles' dancing, And Troy was pretending to listen. I made a sad attempt to walk through to the kitchen unnoticed, but Gabriella saw me.

"Sharpay? What are you doing here? Troy, what is she doing here?" She asked.

At this point I was almost amused by the little scene that was unfolding. "You didn't tell her did you?" I asked. All of a sudden I felt like I could wait a minute or two for food.

"Tell me what Troy?" Gabriella asked, putting her hands on her hips and leaning toward Troy.

"Um… well, Sharpay is kind of crashing here for a week while her house is under search warrant." Troy said uncomfortably.

"She's what!?" Gabriella asked. She huffed. "Why didn't you tell me about this? This is a big deal! My boyfriend is living on the same floor as another girl? Especially her?"

Okay… spaz attack much? Princess here is taking this just a little too far. "Listen Gabriella, this is no big deal-"

"You shut up!" Gabriella screamed, spouting out tears. Okay, I cried when Taylor called me a slut, and I cried when my brother was carried off to the ER for alcohol overdose. And she's crying because I'm staying in the same house as Troy? "First you kiss my boyfriend and now this?"

"It was one stupid kiss! Will you and Taylor just shut up about it? I was hurting and confused and Troy was there! That's it!" I yelled at her, I was lying, I know. But now wasn't quite the time to tell her that.

"It wasn't just a kiss! If it was why are you living with him?" She shouted in response.

"I'm not living with him! I'm staying in his house while mine is being searched for crack or what ever!" I reasoned. She wasn't buying it.

"All I ever did was try to help you… you went out and tried to steal my boyfriend!" She screamed again. Tears filled her eyes.

"Gabriella! I'm sorry that Troy didn't tell you about me staying in the same house as him but I didn't do anything to you." I said.

Gabriella literally crumpled right on front of me. She was on her knees crying like a maniac, her eye make up was smeared across her face, there were streaks from where her tears washed her blush off and her eyes were red and puffy. "Taylor was right. All you are is an icy slut." She said, still crying like a maniac. "That's all you ever were, an icy slut who has an outrageous amount of self pity." She said.

Some where along the lines I stopped taking what Gabriella said so seriously. Her words didn't offend me, she was a typical overly emotional, 'my goal is to save the world by annoying every person from here to Tokyo' type person. It did kind of bother me that she was dating my true love though. "Gabriella, I'm sorry but I don't see why you're not okay with this. I've known Troy's family-"

"But you're not his girlfriend!" Gabriella shrieked.

I tried to act as calmly as possible, first of all, rude much! I know she's feeling threatened and all but this is both over dramatic and totally harsh towards me. Second of all, she kept on using the fact that she was Troy's girlfriend as a right to butt in which was both annoying and um… what's the right word? How about desperate? Deluded? Psychotic? Or at least something to that extent. "Gabriella? I know kissing Troy was a mistake, but you need to step off. Don't you think you can handle this just a little bit more maturely?" I asked slowly as if she was a five year old throwing a temper tantrum (which from a distance she probably did look like at that moment… but that's beside the point).

Gabriella started crying all over again. "You just don't get it, you've never felt the way I have about something!" She screamed.

I looked at her, dead serious. "I know more than you think." I said.

I just, at that moment realized that Troy was watching us like cable and didn't say anything. It wasn't like I expected him to defend me or anything, I just thought it would be funny jus watching two dramatic teenage girls fighting in the middle of your own house. But Troy wasn't laughing (I know I would have been), he looked like he was concerned, not scared, but concerned. I was snapped back to reality by the sound of Gabriella's voice (I know, how pleasant). "Why do you even try to act all pathetic? It's because you want people to feel sorry for you so you can get away with stealing their boyfriends!"

"Gabriella… just be quiet, please." Came Troy's voice (finally).

Gabriella pulled herself up from the floor and ran over to Troy. She took his hands in hers and started talking crazily. "Troy… Troy. I know I may seem a little too dramatic but you've got to understand. I love you." She said with a huge smile on her face.

Troy on the other hand seemed like he was in a coma. His eyes were wide and he just stood there, silent, without saying a word. Gabriella still looked at him hopefully, but over the next few moments her smile faded. He wasn't answering, which in my experience was as good as saying no.

**Okay… that's chapter seven, it's about 300 words shorter than usual but this was as long as I could make it, I actually had to re-write the whole thing because I didn't like the alternate version of chapter seven where Sharpay told Troy she loved him. But what ever.**

**Okay, news on the auditions, I'm planning to put them in soon, but I have to work some stuff out first so please answer a few questions:**

**Who all should I make audition?**

**Should I let Ryan audition?**

**What songs should I use?**

**These are questions that I need some help deciding on. I found a really good song for Sharpay that wasn't suggested, but remember, she needs two songs because of call backs. So keep sending them in okay? I'll try to update ASAP **


	8. An Actual Human Being

I left the room as soon as Gabriella pulled the love card, this was out of my element. I stood in the kitchen, a safe distance. I'm surprised that Troy's parents hadn't gotten back yet, they were at a PTA meeting and stayed late to discuss the home coming dance. I knew if they came home at this moment, they would find a way to reconcile Troy and Gabriella. They didn't like her by any means though, they thought she was too sugar coated. I knew because they would always talk about her when they invited me over for dinner 'for old time's sake', they always used to do that, maybe because they missed me, maybe because Troy missed me, I guess I'll never know. Anyways, I know I shouldn't have, but I had to listen to what was going on outside of the kitchen

"Gabriella, wait!" Troy grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the door.

"You want me to wait? Well then look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me." She screamed.

Troy looked at her, intensely. "I-I can't." He said.

"Well then this is just a huge waste of time." She ran outside, with tears in her eyes. "I thought I loved you Troy." She said, finally calming down a bit. "All I need to know is one thing. Do you love her?"

I pressed my back against the door harder, as if some how it would help me hear. "Who? Gabriella I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do, Troy. You may not love me but I know you." She said, and with those three words, she actually sounded human.

Troy paused… it was a long, excruciating pause. "She doesn't love me." He spoke in a low voice. "So I can't love her.

"But do you?" Gabriella asked. "Do I really need to ask?"

Troy cleared his throat. "It'll never happen."

I could practically see Gabriella shaking her head. "I should have known." She barely whispered, but I could hear. "Good bye Troy. Maybe someday we'll…" She trailed off. "Goodbye." She said.

I quickly headed up the stairs and locked myself in the guest room. Did that seriously just happen? Did I just watch the end of Troyella? No, it definitely wasn't over, not until Taylor said it was. I changed into a black cropped tank top and a pair of short shorts. The heat was exceptionally dry and horrible so it was somewhat acceptable. I crawled into bed and hid under the covers, even when someone knocked on the door. I was willing to take the chance that is was Mrs. or Mr. Bolton and pretended to be asleep.

I tried to get my mind of all this stuff, I went through my iPod for audition song ideas, I tried writing, but there were too many thoughts to try to focus them onto paper, I tries guessing which play would be our musical this year, I even counted the number of little skulls on my note book cover (somewhere between fifty six and ninety two). It didn't work, finally I somehow fell asleep. It wasn't a long night, in fact I wished I could stay in bead for longer, but then there was school… I know, won't that be fun?

Especially since I still have the word SLUT tattooed onto the front of my locker. At least I didn't get in trouble for vandalism, but I'm pretty sure they ruled me out because they pretty much knew that I wouldn't call myself a slut for attention. Everyone knew Taylor was the one that wrote that on my locker but honestly, no one had the guts to tell a teacher, they were all afraid that Taylor would turn on them next. Yup, typical high school. It's true that Taylor and I never really saw eye to eye, she never thought I deserved all the luxuries that I got, backyard pool and cabana, connections to any career I could ever want to pursue acting, performing, modeling ect.), weekend getaways to Paris. She thought I was spoiled, but she didn't know anything about my life, or more likely she just didn't bother to look.

I got ready for school, I dressed a little more 'up' today, since I was going to need all the optimism I could get. I decided on I white key hole halter top and a jean skirt, I fixed my hair into a side pony tail that rested on my left shoulder, I added a white headband and make up, and was off.

I didn't think the news that Troy and Gabriella weren't together anymore would spread that fast. But apparently I underestimated the power of teenage girls and text messaging. The looks I got from everyone were more harsh and obvious than the ones I got when I showed up for school two hours late after my house almost burned down and both my mother and brother were pronounced alcoholics. It was more important to them, I had taken away their one constant: Troyella, the couple everyone was cheering for. It was over and there was no way that they would accept that. They already had the image of the two together, happy and in love imprinted in their head, and there was no way that they were going to give that up now. Which pretty much sucks for me since after I over heard Troy and Gabriella talking he may be in love with someone. But all Gabriella said 'her' so she could be talking about her mom for all I know.

Everywhere I went people were staring, there were even people waiting by my locker incase of another show down. Thank god some janitor managed to get the word SLUT off my locker, so now it was just implied by the whole school instead of written on my locker. "Sharpay!" Someone yelled. Taylor and the mathletes approached me. And surprisingly, Gabriella wasn't with them.

"Hi Taylor, let me guess, you left your permanent marker by my locker." I said sarcastically, screw optimism. I knew she was here for a fight.

"First you find a way to break Troy and Gabriella up then you even have the guts to talk to me like that?" She asked defensively.

"It's not my fault that Troy doesn't love Gabriella, what makes you think that it is?" I asked.

"You don't know anything about Gabriella! She's going through a lot of trouble! Her mom is alone and she's thinking of sending Gabriella to live with her aunt while she gets everything under control! Not that you would know anything about that because you're to busy sipping cocktails and tanning by the pool!" Taylor said loudly.

That was it. I couldn't take it. "You think you guys have it so much worse than me! Have your parents ever split up and gotten back together three times in a year? Have you ever been separated from your brother because your parents are in some stupid fight? Have you ever felt like some kind of mistake because you know your parents don't love each other? Have you ever had to pick one of your parents over the other to defend in court over custody? Have you ever been told that both your mother and brother are alcoholics and you had to find out from a cop that they're doing community service? And how come everyone thinks my life is perfect just because I live in a big house?" I screamed. I was crying… again. At that moment I didn't care if I looked like a psycho, I just wanted Taylor to get the fact into her head that she and Gabriella weren't the most unfortunate beings on the planet.

"Sharpay… I didn't know." She said, as if that was an excuse.

"Really? Because you're best friend was telling the entire school about it just two days ago." I said coldly.

"I'm sorry, I just thought that…" She started, she knew that whatever she said would just make it worse, thank god she had that bit of sense in her.

I shook my head at her and walked into the girls bathroom to clean myself up. My Dolce and Gabbana purse may have been partially the reason why Taylor thought my life was perfect, but really, all my designer junk was gifts. I washed off my face and reapplied blush, mascara, eye shadow, eye liner, lip gloss, and finally lip liner (Thank god we have ten minutes before we have to get to home room. "I am so pathetic." I said to myself in the mirror.

"You think you're pathetic? Try boyfriend dumping you after you told him you love him." Said someone from a stall.

"Gabriella?" I asked.

The stall door opened to reveal none other than a very depressed Gabriella. "Sharpay? I didn't know it was you." She said sadly.

A part of me went out to her, you know? I knew rejection well and it wasn't a good feeling, especially when it came to someone you loved. "I'm sorry… for what happened with Troy." I said.

"Me too. I really thought I was in love, it was the closest thing I've ever felt to it." She said. "I can't believe I was being so stupid!" She said.

"It wasn't stupid to think someone loved you." I said patting her shoulder sympathetically.

"I know, but I just thought, my dad doesn't love my mom… he was seeing someone else for the past year, and she doesn't love him either, I thought if _I_ fell in love then they would see that they can work it out." She said.

I looked at her. Honestly I never thought that behind all that sugar-coated happiness was an actual human being with something in common with me. "I'm sorry, I know how it feels, I probably hurt myself more than they hurt me after my parents divorced." I said.

"Yeah…" Gabriella said. "I'm sorry about blowing up on you like that yesterday, the divorce papers just came in and I thought that the same thing that happened to my mom was going to happen to me." She looked down sadly. "I guess it did, but it wasn't your fault." She said. "So does this mean that we're still enemies?" She asked.

"No… I think finally understand you." I said. We gave each other a short hug and left the bathroom laughing together at our own pathetic lives. We walked to Ms. Darbus' home room and all eyes were on us. The schools total enemies were acting more buddy-buddy than ever.

When we got to home room everyone was still staring at us. It was so funny. But we acted like everything was normal, I was going to sit down in my usual seat when I saw the least likely person ever already sitting there. "Ryan?" I asked.

He turned his head and smiled. "Oh, Hey Shar."

**Okay… so that's chapter eight, it came to me pretty quickly and I hope you guys like it. I felt like I had to justify Gabriella somehow because it's unnatural to be that insane.** **So I'm sorry I keep putting off auditions, but I think I'm going to add those in soon. I'm finishing up the song choices for the first open auditions, but I still need to pick songs. And if you remember, last chapter I mentioned something about a homecoming dance. Keep an eye out on more of that. I'll try to update soon.**

**P.S. IF YOU HAVE ADVICE ON ANY ASPECT OF THE STORY OR THE PLOT PLEASE TELL ME!!! 3 THANX **


	9. Believability

"What are you doing here?" I asked my brother, who was supposed to be involved with the legal system at this point. "Where's mom? What about that whole community service thing?"

"Only mom needed to do that, I only need rehab!" Ryan said. You know, two weeks ago being stuck in rehab would be a bad thing. "They let me out for progress, but I have to go back after school for the next millennium. And by the way, what were you doing with that Montez girl?" Ryan asked.

"She has a name! And as it turns out her life isn't so perfect either." I said.

"Anything good for gossip?" He asked.

"Shut up Ryan!" I huffed, he was my brother and all, but he was annoying. I took a really, really deep breath. "Just get on with the story… what about mom?"

"She's going for the whole sob story angle, maybe get the judge to feel sorry for her." He said.

"I highly doubt that, she's used that one about five times too many." I said. It was implied that my dad sued my mom for my custody… again. This was all too typical, but this time dad had a real case going. He was so wrapped up in beating my mom in this little game he had going with my mom that he had forgotten that Ryan and I are turning eighteen in two months and we would be legally allowed to move out with out parental consent. But I doubt that mattered to him, he just wanted to beat my mom out one more time before they didn't have Ryan and I as an excuse to mess with each other anymore.

"Okay students! I see our Mr. Ryan Evans has returned to our class so please make him feel welcomed. Sharpay, would you mind sitting next to Gabriella for the time being?" She asked. I shook my head no and sat down. "Very well then, let us continue with the announcements. I'm sure you have seen the audition sign up sheets every where, auditions for the winter musical will be held tomorrow during free period… we have received some interesting names, Chad Danforth for example." She said.

Half the class turned to look at Chad who sunk down in his chair. "Danforth? Wow, these musicals must be getting pretty desperate since I left." Ryan commented. It got a few laughs and one of the jocks was like 'dude! You just got dissed by a drama nerd!' which both brought justice to drama nerd-kind and worried me. Ryan was usually so with drawn when he was sober, but he wasn't drunk, I can tell you that much, if he was he would be a whole lot less withdrawn. What happened to him during rehab?

Ms. Darbus rolled her eyes. "The musical we will be performing is another original by Kelsi Neilson called Spotlight, It is a complete masterpiece! In fact, I showed the script to one of my friends at the Grand Central theatre (A/N nonexistent as far as I'm concerned) and he allowed up to book the place for opening night! Look out, this may be on of your tickets to fame. They're even selling ticket to a few scouts and VIPs!" I shared and excited look with Gabriella, this was going to be a really big deal.

I looked over at Kelsi, she had sort of come out of her shell, but she was still pretty shy. We actually got along well, we both had that writer's touch, she was great with plotting out a story line, and I helped put it into words. It was like one of those yin and yang things. Plus Ryan used to have a crush on her so he made me come with him to watch her play piano, eventually I worked up enough courage to ask her if I could help, it was awesome, over the summer we composed like, fifteen plays together, some were stupid, and some were awesome. But the point is that we understood each other.

Spotlight was like a cross between West Side Story, Chicago and Rent, a few of my all time favorite musicals. I made her try it out and we fell in love with it, it was about a musician whose contract just expired and she was forced to leave her glamorous life and move to an apartment in New York, and it goes from there. I didn't mind Kelsi taking the credit, because I knew the play, I partially created it, it was like a Broadway dream come true.

Ms. Darbus continued. "Auditions are held tomorrow during free period and I will tell you my decision by the end of the day. Everyone will audition as singles this year and you may choose any song that you would like."

Gabriella leaned over to me. "What song are you doing?" She asked.

"I have no clue… I don't think I even signed up yet. You?" I asked.

"Same here, I haven't even figured out what I'm going to do about my lack of acting skills." She said.

"I could give you a crash course." I said. "Can you be at Troy's house after school?" I asked.

"Well… I guess, besides, I left my favorite lip gloss over there!" She said and we both giggled. So this was what it was like to have a 'BFF' or whatever. God… I hoped that this didn't mean that we had to stay up all night gossiping and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, probably not. Buffy would probably scare Gabriella anyways. But still, it was fun having a friend who understood why I'd want to watch MTV rather than the poker channel.

The bell rang and I went to talk to Ryan. "So they just let you come back to school?" I asked.

"Good behavior gets you a long way." He shrugged. "You still didn't tell me what's with you talking to the Montez girl."

"_Gabriella _and I have more in common than you think… you know we're both kind of stuck in dysfunctional families with divorces and alcoholics!" I said, reminding myself that I was mad at him.

"Didn't we go over this already?" He asked.

"No, I don't think we did." I snapped.

"Look Sharpay, I'm sorry! How long are you going to hold this against me?" He asked.

I stopped and turned around. "You could have died Ryan." I said seriously.

"But I didn't! That's the point! I'm fine Sharpay!" He said, lifting his hands for dramatic effect.

"Just… don't go back to drinking okay?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah… I promise." He said. I didn't quite fully believe him…. I mean, he's said that a zillion times before, but it helped.

I went to my next class, chemistry. Our teacher, Mr. Hector had us starting our first project of the year, meaning today was the long awaited day where we got to get our lab partners. Mr. Hector had this weird policy that students worked better when they were put in groups that they felt comfortable with, i.e. we got to choose our own lab partners. Ryan was happily paired off with Kelsi leaving me alone and confused.

"Hey Sharpay, want to be partners?" Gabriella asked.

I shrugged. "Sure." I said. I looked around the class room, Taylor seemed unluckily paired off with Chad, who was talking to Jason, who was partnered with Zeke, who was staring at me who was kind of flattered, kind of grossed out.

"Sharpay… hi." Troy said.

I turned and looked over at Troy who was standing, like to feet away from me (how do I not notice these things?). "Oh, hi Troy." I said, trying to stay as cool as possible.

He pulled me to a side. "Look, we never did get a chance to talk about what happened last night." He whispered.

"You and Gabriella broke up, it has nothing to do with me." I said, pulling my arm away.

"You know it does." He said quietly.

"Look, not now Troy, I have to get back to my partner." I made just enough of a show walking over to Gabriella and sitting next to her at the table that I could practically hear Troy's heart beating, at least judging by the shocked expression on his face. In science all we did was start our write up. You know, state the purpose, create a hypothesis, and all that other junk. Gabriella was pretty surprised at my competence and my strange ability to keep up with her while she did her braniac thing.

"So, see you after school?" I asked at the end of the period. Surprisingly Ms. Happy go lucky was actually pretty fun, in a strange way. Gabriella nodded and grabbed her books.

"See you later Shar." She said, using the nick name.

I walked over to my locker. "Okay, why did I have to hear from someone else that Troy and Gabriella broke up?" Ryan asked.

"Because I didn't feel like telling you about it." I said. Ryan did kind of get on my nerves sometimes… like now for instance.

"And I can't believe it was your doing, and you kissed Bolton! And now you're staying with him? I mean I knew they called you the ice queen but this, this is beyond icy." He continued.

"Shut up Ryan." I said, trying to focus on my combo.

"And now being all buddy-buddy with Gabriella and leaving Troy hanging. Congratulations ice queen, you just hit the titanic that is Troy Bolton!" He went on.

It turned sharply and snapped at him. "You're wrong!" I went back to my combo.

"Don't tell me this guy is melting you." I didn't answer, and I finally got my locker opened. "Whoa! Little sis fell for Bolton!" He laughed.

I got my books and slammed my locker. "First of all, its big sis, second of all I did not fall for Troy, and third of all who told you all of this?"

"Okay, _big sis_, what ever okay? I was joking. And for the record you do seem pretty defensive about this whole thing." He said.

"What? In rehab did they help you get over alcohol by giving you drugs?" I asked.

"I wish, all they did was make me sit in a circle with a bunch of other 'people with my problem' and made me open up or whatever, see how easy it is to get out of?" He asked.

"Just shut up, okay?" I asked.

He shrugged and walked behind me to gym. The rest of the day was barely worth mentioning, nothing happened and everything was quit. I gave Gabriella a ride over to my house and we chilled in the back, the warrant wasn't up yet, but the police let me hang out in the back for some reason. "You have the most awesome backyard ever!" She said.

"I guess… I never really noticed." I confessed. We did some studying for science before I noticed that Gabriella was sneaking glances over to Troy's house next door. "I know it must be weird being here." I said to her.

She quickly turned her head back. "Huh? Oh… yeah. It kind of is you know? Being so close to his house with out him." She said. "It's not that I think we should be together, it's just weird."

I offered her a small smile. "Troy has that effect on people, he can be so stupid, but you still can't help thinking about him." I said. "We were best friends for a pretty long time, I know the feeling." I said.

Gabriella nodded. "Okay, let's move on to acting related issues." She said… not so smoothly changing the subject. I still went with it though, I wanted to change the subject too.

"Okay, your main issue is that you're just saying the words. Use more than your mouth, use your voice, your face, your body… here, think of a lie." I said.

Gabriella thought for a moment. "Troy Bolton is the ugliest creature I've ever laid eyes on." She said with a smile. I agreed, that was a good lie.

"Troy Bolton _is_ the ugliest creature that I've ever laid eyes on." I said, scrunching up my face and crossing my arms.

Gabriella gave me a weird look. "Really?"

"No. But it sounded like I thought so." I said.

Gabriella nodded. "So I don't just say it… I act it?"

"That's why it's called acting." I nodded.

Gabriella looked like she just discovered something. "Troy Bolton… is the ugliest creature _I've_ ever laid eyes upon." She said with a total dose of believability.

"Troy Bolton is the ugliest creature I've ever laid eyes upon."

"Troy Bolton is _totally_ the ugliest creature I've ever laid eyes upon." Gabriella said with attitude.

"Troy Bolton is the ugliest creature I've ever laid eyes upon, and he's a slob." I said, as if it were a competition.

"Troy Bolton is the ugliest creature I've creature I've ever laid eyes upon, and he's a total Justin Timberlake wannabe." She said. I laughed. I admit, that one was good.

"He's not bringing sexy back any time soon." I said between laughs. Gabriella gave me a high five. "And Troy Bolton is-"

"Right behind you." Tory finished for me. DAMMIT! TROY!

We our turned our heads slowly and sure enough, Troy was standing right behind us. And weirdly enough, we couldn't stop laughing.

**Okay… here is chapter nine. I hope it doesn't suck that much, I feel like it did for some reason though. So now since I decided to make the play a Kelsi original, I have to look for songs to use for that, since though I love to write, I don't have time to sit and write enough songs for an entire musical. Good news is that since all auditions are single and they can pick any song, it'll make it easier to choose. I'll try to update soon too. Okay… I just looked at my profile and I said that I probably won't update, like every day when I first joined this sight. HA! I guess I didn't anticipate summer vaca.**


	10. Torn Once Again

This was definitely the most fun I'd had all week. We were being idiots, but it was **awesome**. Gabriella and I were laughing our heads off after calling Troy the ugliest creature we'd ever laid eyes on… repeatedly… while he was right behind us. And I didn't care. "I can't believe you were there the whole time." I said, holding onto my stomach, laughing like an idiot for two minutes straight made it hurt after a while.

"I've got to admit, even though I don't usually laugh about this stuff, this was pretty classic." Gabriella said, regaining her composure. "No hard feelings right?" She asked Troy.

"Huh? Oh… yeah." He said. "Um can I talk to Sharpay for like, two seconds?"

Gabriella nodded. "I'll go back to the science project… I think we've had enough acting lessons for one day." She said.

Troy nodded hastily and pulled me over where Gabriella couldn't hear. "What was that?" He asked.

"What was what?" I asked.

"Don't play dumb! That whole 'Troy is the ugliest thing that set foot on this planet' thing!" He said mimicking us.

"Actually it was 'Troy Bolton is the ugliest creature that we've ever-" I stopped when I sensed that this wasn't quite helping. "We didn't mean anything by it okay? It was just a joke."

"Well still I'd prefer that you don't discuss me with my ex!" He said in a whisper.

"She's not your ex anymore! She's my friend! Accept it!" I said in a slightly louder whisper, just not loud enough to hear.

"Oh come Shar! First you hate and now then you're her best friend?" He asked, as if he were accusing me of something.

"Yeah! Do you have a problem with that?" I asked.

"No! I just love the idea of my ex girl friend and my best friend connecting over making fun of me!" He said, still in a semi-loudish whisper.

"Well your just going to have to-" I stopped and listened to what he just said. "Wait… you consider me your best friend?" I asked.

Troy shrugged. "Well, yeah. I mean… we don't talk that much anymore, but when we do its better than all the 'in depth' conversations I've had with Chad about the pros and cons about only practicing for two hours a day." Troy said.

I smiled. "So how is the great Chad Danforth?" I asked.

"Wrapped around the annoying Taylor Mckessie's finger." He smiled.

"Wow… through all those years in Jr. High when he couldn't even get a girl to tell him the math homework I never would've expected that." I said.

"Back then he couldn't even get a guy to tell him the math homework." Troy said, letting out a small laugh. "Now all he does is go to practice, and complain about Taylor nagging him to do her evil bidding."

"Her evil bidding?" I asked.

"She's on this quest for East High domination, step one is connecting the mathletes to the basketball team, ever since Gabriella and I broke up, our 'alliance' with them has been weakened… at least according to Taylor. Meaning that in order to reconstruct this bond, some of the team has to join the academic-what-ever-a-thon team. This is where Chad comes in."

I raised my eyebrows. "He's trying to convince you to join the academic decathlon team?" I asked.

"Yeah, that thing." He said. "He's really serious about it too, every time he talks about it it's like a bad infomercial." He said.

I laughed a little. "Come on, we'd better get back to Gabriella." I said.

He looked almost a little disappointed, but he still smiled and followed me. "What were you guys talking about?" Gabriella asked.

"He wanted inside details on the play, you know since I sort of co-wrote it." I said, sort of flaunting it, but could you blame me?

Troy looked confused, and then he nodded. "Uh… yeah, I really need those extra credit points this year, dad's planning a killer year for the Wild Cats."

"Isn't it against the rules to receive inside information on the play before hand?" Gabriella asked, she was still a goody two shoes, I just understood her better now.

"Uh… that's what I told him!" I said pointing to Troy.

Gabriella turned her gaze to Troy. "I uh… just wanted to know… for Chad! He's nervous about this whole musical thing."

Gabriella's look changed to sympathy. "I was too at first, but it gets easier." She said.

"I know… I was kind of there." Troy said. It was true that sometimes Gabriella took the whole Dr. Phil act just a little too far, she was still working on getting off other peoples cases though.

Gabriella nodded and went back to drawing a picture of our experiment for the write up. Troy gave me a 'What does she mean?' look and I gave him an 'I don't know! You met her first.' Type of look in return. We'd been friends long enough to understand each other's non-verbal communication.

The rest of the whole study session went on the same way, with a few awkward moments and some teasingly humorous Troy jokes. I got to bed early… for the first time in the past week I was actually ending the day with something good. Troy was standing in my door way. "Hey, you." I said.

"Hey yourself." He said and walked in. "Listen, we never really got a chance to talk." He said. **(A/N the talk finally came! I swear, I won't put it off this time!)**

I looked down. "Yeah… what did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"I like you… a lot Sharpay. And I was thinking maybe we could hang out or something." He said. He had obviously practiced, you could just tell.

"Wow…" Was all I could say, I mean sure I saw this coming but it was all in my dreams, this time, luckily for me I couldn't wake up this time. "You mean as-"

"Only if you want it to be." He said. I was quiet, I couldn't say no, but I couldn't say yes either, I trusted Troy and things were getting so much better now, but I still had some of me that he would break my heart. So I just tried to save the moment where Troy Bolton, wanted me. "You don't have to answer now okay? Just promise to think about it." He said. **(A/N Okay… so I kind of put it off again but you're probably used to it by now)**

I smiled. "I promise." I said. He nodded and left, closing the door behind him. I fell back onto the bed. I could hear the voice in my head. 'Welcome back to Torn City USA! Population: Sharpay Evans.' I closed my eyes, trying desperately to fall asleep, I guess it worked eventually, but before I fell asleep, it was torture, because I was for the third time in my life, torn once again over Troy Bolton.

I woke up and went into autopilot. I got read for school, once again dressing more up than down. I ate, went to school, talked with Gabriella, avoided Taylor, occasionally smiled at Troy, worked during science, told Ryan to shut up about thirty two times. I finally made it to free period, and was hyped for auditions. I sat next to Gabriella and Kelsi who were talking about the play. Ms. Darbus called out the names, one by one. We eventually got to Ryan first (Darbus doesn't go alphabetically so I didn't have to go next) he went with Holiday by Green Day, a song I made him listen to over and over until he literally would repeat it in his sleep. He did considerably well, but he was no Billy Joe. Next was Taylor, who did Aint No Other Man by Christina Aguilera, she was pretty good, but her voice didn't fill it out completely, she had great stage presence though. Chad was after her, he did really well with Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard, he actually danced while he was singing to, which was a major plus, but I could swear that he used a few moves that you could only learn in a ballet class. Next was Troy who did well with The Art of Losing by American Hi-fi, a song I could actually stand. Gabriella didn't go with her usual happy pop piece, she did Come Clean by Hilary Duff, a more serious song… okay, it was still Hilary Duff but it was a start.

"Great job." I whispered when Gabriella sat back down.

"Thanks." She whispered back.

"Okay, next Sharpay Evans." Ms. Darbus said.

I freaked as I walked up on stage, like I always did, but eventually the emotions took over. I nodded to one of the guys by the CD player. My Immortal by Evanescence started playing, I was sure no one had heard this song before but they were all shocked that I was singing something slow.

"I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears, and if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave, 'cause your presence still lingers here, and it won't leave me alone, these wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase!" I sang out the first verse, first quiet, then powerful, usually I made my voice perky and feminine, today I made it strong.

"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears! When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears! And I held your hand through all of these years! But you still have… All of me." I finished the chorus, hitting every high note, singing loudly without a shaking voice.

I roamed the stage, keeping the audiences eyes on me no matter what, by the second half of the song I was on my knees belting out the bridge. "I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone! But though you're still with me, I've been alone after all!" I sang, holding the last note to last three and a half measures.

"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears! When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears! And I held your hand through all of these years! But you still have… All of me." I finished the song lowering my voice to a quiet hum. It was followed by a pause then an enormous applause. I felt so hyped. I shortly bowed and hopped off the stage.

Ms. Darbus was literally reduced to tears. "My dear, why didn't you perform like this last year?" She asked.

I smiled. "Thank you Ms. Darbus." I said and she nodded me away. I guess this was a good thing, really good.

**Okay, so I finally added in the auditions. For the record, I listened to every song that was suggested to me and I hope I made the right choice which was a song that I picked out. Now I have to think about call backs… hey, do you guys think I should make it pairs only audition, single only auditions or both? And who should be the pairs? I don't think I did that great of a job on this chapter, I should of added more stuff with Ryan. But I've been getting alot of amazing reviews that I totally didn't expect (I've only been a member on this sight for like a month) so I just wanna say THANX GUYS! I'll try to update pronto.**


	11. No Pressure

By the last period of the day I was totally freaking out. Every one who was at the auditions looked at me in a weird way. Like I did something pretty unexpected. Hello! I've been auditioning for musicals since I got the part of Belle in our grade school production of Beauty and the Beast (even though I was just a third grader… the sixth grader weren't so thrilled about that part)! And I've been listening to Evanescence since there CD came out like, six years ago! I felt like the human freak, which I probably was to them anyway. Ms. Darbus said that she would get call backs up by the end of the day, I don't know how she decided so fast though, she had a very intuitive way of deciding who made it. The bell rang, and everyone was leaving for home except for the drama nerds. It was the end of the day, so Darbus had to come out with the list by now.

"I am so nervous." Gabriella said.

"It's just another play." I said.

"Well yeah, but scouts will be there! And I did not work this hard this long just to become an AP calculus teacher." She said sarcastically.

"I know what you mean." I said.

The list was crowded, but they all made way for the drama queens of East High. I looked on the list, I skipped over all the one like 'gang member 3' or 'back ground singer 7' and looked at the lead roles:

**Taya Adams: Sharpay Evans, Gabriella Montez Characteristics: Lead, celebrity, talented, orphaned, smart, underestimated.**

**Hailey Vermont: Sharpay Evans, Gabriella Montez Characteristics: supporting lead, rich girl leaving home, spoiled, sneaky, talented, dating Brandon, Taya's new room mate.**

**Brandon Tanner: Troy Bolton, Ryan Evans Characteristics: Supporting lead, comes from bad family, a teen runaway, aspiring musician, can't afford rent without Hailey's help, intrigued by Taya.**

**Gavin Langdon: Ryan Evans, Zeke Baylor Characteristics: Supporting lead, Taya's manager, secretly helping Hailey. **

**Cameron Marco: Taylor McKessie, Caitlin Isaacs Characteristics: Supporting lead, club owner, a former celebrity, bitter.**

**Blake Carter: Chad Danforth, Jason Cross Characteristics: Supporting lead, one of Taya's best friends in Hollywood, is trying to revive he fame, interested in Cameron.**

I looked over the list of leads, it was pretty well picked out, it was obvious that Ms. Darbus had though this whole thing through. I looked over at Gabriella. "We're locked leads!" I squealed.

"Huh?" She asked.

"If I get the lead you get the next biggest part, and vice versa! We got the two biggest parts for girls!" I said.

"That's awesome!" Gabriella said and gave me a hug.

It was awesome, I didn't care if I got the lead, just a good supporting performance and I could be in there! On my way to Hollywood! I knew that both Hailey and Taya had solo songs, so it was all good with me. I looked over at Ryan, who was sort of shocked that he didn't automatically land the part of Brandon.

"Students!" Ms. Darbus yelled above the clatter. "I have made a decision, for those you who have made call backs for the larger roles, there will be pairs only auditions-" The noise level went through the roof as everyone tried to stand by their closest friends. "That I have already chosen!" She finished and the room went silent. She smiled. "Mr. Danforth, please pair up with Ms. McKessie."

Chad protested. "But Ms. Darbus! I've been working with Taylor for the past week! No one else!"

"Are you… complaining?" Taylor asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"And I would just like to say thanks for carrying the torch." Chad said to Ms. Darbus.

I smiled, typical Taylor. Ms. Darbus continued. "Mr. Evans, please pair up with Ms. Montez."

Gabriella looked excited. "Have you ever noticed how cute your brother is?" She asked.

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal in New Mexico." I said.

Gabriella shrugged. "I still think he's cute."

"Hello Sharpay." Ryan said. He turned flirtatiously to Gabriella. "Ms. Montez" He said. Gabriella blushed deeply.

"Let me guess, they were playing the Titanic in rehab." I said bluntly.

Ryan gave me a look, but Gabriella's face lit up. "Oh! I love that movie!"

"Me too!" Ryan said, he was faking though, I could tell.

"Okay, what was your favorite part?" Gabriella asked.

"Uh… when the boat sank?" Ryan guessed.

"I know, that part always makes me cry!" Gabriella said.

"Me too." Ryan said unconvincingly. "Don't wait up Sharpay, I'll be out late." He said looking at Gabriella.

"I wasn't planning to. Oh and by the way this months issue of cosmopolitan just came in, after I'm done I'll give it to you so you can look at the pictures" I said and walked away. He deserved that. I knew he didn't come across all player-ish, but he was not so sweet at times, I think it came along with alcoholism. That wasn't going to happen with Gabriella.

I walked over to Troy. "Hey Shar." He said.

I choked, remembering the last time we talked. I put myself back together in a matter of seconds though. "So final auditions are next Friday, do you want to work on them now or later?" I asked.

"Later is good, I have to do drills today with my dad." He said.

"Cool with me." I said.

I was about two feet away from escaping when he grabbed my shoulder. "No pressure… okay?" He whispered into my ear sending chills down my spine (what a cliché). Huh? No pressure? What was he trying to say? Was it about the play or about… something else? He played basket ball on teams since he was like, five, he of all people should know that saying 'no pressure' is like reverse psychology's only flaw. And then there was the whole 'it was hard enough deciding without that' factor.

I turned and gave him my classic half-smirk-half-smile. "You've been spending too much time with your dad." I said and walked away, somewhat satisfied by my cover.

I walked over to Ryan and Gabriella. He was still taking the bullet for what I said earlier. "… well see, I look at the pictures in that magazine because they- um- do a great job… portraying the female… mind." He said nodding rapidly.

"But how can they? I mean, they're only pictures." Gabriella said.

"Well… they have captions." Ryan said shakily.

"Um, just so you two know, I was joking. But I think we just got a confession out of him." I said patting Ryan on the shoulder. He gave me a look. "Okay, well I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm going to go figure out what song I'm doing for call backs. Toodles!" I said, and walked away, leaving him to have to explain all over again.

I went back to Troy's house and did nothing for two hours but contemplate the whole date with Troy thing. I mean, if I had to pick, what would it be? Love or dignity? I couldn't decide. It was horrible. And the whole no pressure thing didn't quite help all that much either. But still, it was nice to know that he cared enough to at least try to help (key word being try). Even with that bit of encouragement, it was pretty much suck fest at the Bolton house, or at least in the guest room. But hey, I was basically used to 24/7 suck fest so I guess it could have been worse.

"Hey." Troy said from the door way.

I managed a small smile. "Hey." I said back. "So… how are things with your dad?" I asked awkwardly.

"Good." He said, he walked over and sat next to me on my bed. Okay, he was either feeling really, really optimistic or he was trying to make small talk. I liked the second idea better.

I waved it off and turned to look at him. "Do you want to practice for the-"

"Listen Sharpay…" He cut in. "I think we should just skip to the part where we stop pretending." He said with an uncomfortable smile. When did he get all confident?

"Yeah… me too." I said. I don't know how it managed to get from my mind to my mouth with out the rest of me noticing but it did.

"I don't want you to feel cornered or anything. I really like you Sharpay. But if you don't feel the same way…" He paused, the most scary pause ever. "I'll get over it." He said. Sounding not so sure on his decision. "But if you think it might work-"

He didn't have to finish, I'd heard enough. "Yes."

"Huh?" Troy looked genuinely confused.

"Yes." I repeated.

"Yes? Yes to what?" He asked.

I smiled to myself. For the first time lately that I'd been with Troy, my mind wasn't rushing at all. In fact, that one stupid part of my brain that only let me remembers Ryan, or Gabriella, or my mom somehow shut itself off. At that moment, all I knew was that Troy, the one I'd been wanting all this time, wanted me back. "Yes to everything." I whispered, as if it was some sort of a secret. I leaned in for a small, barely worth mentioning peck on the lips that left my lips tingling. We pulled away and smiled.

"Was that so hard?" He asked, smiling like an idiot.

"No, but it was worth the wait." I said.

"I'm glad you think so." Troy said, holding me by the back of my head and gently pulling me back in to a long, deep kiss. Yup, definitely worth the wait.

**YAY! It's official Troypay couple-ness! This chapter felt kind of short because of the call back list but the kiss at the end makes up for it I hope. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside… like one of the people Sharpay makes fun of! Okay, so I hate to keep asking all you guys for ideas but does anyone out there know any duets I ca use? I'd be so lost with out all you reviewers! Thanx again! I'll update as soon as I can. This Monday I'm going to a Fall Out Boy concert with a few friends… even though we have to drive for like, a zillion hours I'm hoping it'll be worth it. I'm not a big FOB fan but my friend is and I'm looking forward to it. Besides, it gives me an excuse to shop for a new outfit (What? Behind the black nail polish lies a girl who loves to shop!!) Okay, I'm ranting now… BYEZ!!!**


	12. His Blood on My Hands

My life was perfect. Just perfect. We eventually (unfortunately) had to come back up for air. I smiled. "So does your offer still stand? Can we still hang out some time?" I asked.

"I think it's officially safe to call it a date." He said. "How about right now?" He asked, standing up.

"Huh? Troy, it's sort of late." I said, still smiling at his cuteness, or (more likely) it was because I could stare at him openly now.

"It's a Friday! Come on!" He said, pulling me up.

"Well, I guess so." I said.

"Let's go, I know just the place." He said. He basically dragged me to his car and made me keep my eyes closed for the ten minute drive, I thought it was sort of cute. When we finally got to the place he still wouldn't let me open my eyes. He walked right behind me with his hands over my eye to make sure I wouldn't look.

"What ever happened to dinner and a movie?" I asked.

"Nothing, I just thought this would be cooler." He said, lifting his hands from my eyes. We were in a familiar place. It was a small, abandoned dock that opened to a small lake (A/N I have no clue if this is anywhere near accurate, I don't live anywhere near Albuquerque), it had been abandoned because of some sort of financial failure that closed this place down, but we used to come here all the time anyways. "Do you remember this place?" He asked.

"Yeah…" I trailed off, remembering back to the second grade. "Do you think it's still there?" I asked.

"Huh? What's still there?" Troy sounded confused.

I smiled. "Under the rock shaped like Chad's hair." I said. I looked around and found it, it looked more or less like Chad's head. It took a while but I lifted it, and under it was a shoe box.

"I thought that would be gone by now." Troy smiled as he pulled the shoe box out of the hole that we dug when we were seven.

"Well I guess not, let's open it." I said. We opened the box and inside was a note. I read it out loud. "As of today, Troy Bolton and Sharpay Evans are sworn best friends forever. We swear on our most sacred possessions that nothing will ever come between us and we will be friends for life." I finished and smiled. "Funny, I always thought the Best Friend Forever thing was only for girls.

Troy looked at me and laughed. "I was seven okay?" I couldn't help but smile at that. "So what exactly were our most sacred possessions back then?" He asked.

I looked in the box. "Apparently yours was a GI Joe doll." I said, handing it to him.

"I remember this! It was like my favorite toy!" He said, holding it in his hands.

"Yeah, right next to Malibu Barbie." I teased.

"It was a phase okay? But seriously, this was literally my most sacred possession back then." He smiled.

"That's what the paper said." I said. I looked down in the box and found a small purple plastic ring, you know, the kind you get in those machines outside grocery stores. "No way." I said. "This was the ring my first boy friend Chris gave me in the second grade! I wonder if it still fits." I said, trying to squeeze it onto my finger.

"Chris? Chris Bentley? I still think that kid was a nose picker." He said defensively.

"You're just jealous because back in the second grade you didn't have a girlfriend." I giggled. "Harry and I stayed together until like, the fifth grade! He had to move to Canada, poor guy." I said. (A/N No offence Canada!)

"Can we stop talking about Chris now?" He asked.

"My first and last long term relationship… I wonder if I still have his number." I joked.

"Hello? I'm standing right here!" Troy said.

"I'm joking." I said. "He was not half as cute, or as funny, or as charming, or as annoyingly perfect in every single way as you." I said, finally just slipping the ring onto my pinky instead of trying to force it onto my ring finger.

"Good, and just so you know he really was a nose picker." Troy said.

"Sure Troy… and you really did jump a truck on your bike in the fourth grade." I said with a smile.

"What ever." Troy said.

"Okay, so what now?" I asked.

Troy smiled. "Come on, let's take a walk." He said.

I nodded and took his hand. "So, really, how are things with your dad?" I asked.

"Normal… well at least for us." He said. "He's going all basketball crazy, what with basketball season coming up and now I'm a senior so all the scouts will be looking out for me."

"That must suck." I said plainly. "It's kind of different for me. I have to work extra hard to get a scholarship to an art school if I want to go to one. My mom is well… not going to get me tuition, and my dad doesn't like the idea of me running off to Hollywood, he wants me to stay in Albuquerque forever and take on the family business of… what ever my dad does. I have no clue. My mom never lets me talk to him so I never really got a chance to find out. All I know is that it's something really boring and businessy. Even though I don't have a single clue on what he does, you know just as much as I do that what ever it is I'll hate it." I said. "Which is why this play is so important to me."

"I get it." Troy said.

"You're just about the first one, everyone else just thinks I'm out for attention." I said.

"I know you're not, you're just different, and a lot of people at school are afraid of that." He said. We stopped walking. He was leaning down to kiss me when something caught my eye.

"What's that?" I asked pointing to a few people standing a distance away from us.

"Just a bunch of low life dealers selling some drugs to some kid. Ignore them." He said.

I turned my head. One of them was wearing a crimson shirt and matching hat. Take a wild guess on who it was. "Ryan." I whispered.

"Huh?" Troy asked looking all confused, a moment ago I would have thought it was cute but now I was watching something that was breaking my heart.

"That one, in the red, that's Ryan." I said. "I have to go get him!"

Troy held me back and pulled me behind a park bench. "Are you crazy? If you just barge in like that they'll kill you both! Just go to him after they leave and get rid of whatever they sold him." Troy said, keeping his hand over my mouth.

I nodded. Tears streaming down my eyes. How could he do this again? After everything that just happened? How could he? Didn't he have like a parole officer or something? This was beyond pain, it was like betrayal. Maybe I should have just stopped caring what he did. It would have made my life so much easier, but I couldn't he was my brother.

"Okay, we can go now." He said. We stood up and I wiped my eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"No." I didn't lie. "Come on." I said.

We walked a pretty long distance, across the huge field, in dead silence. We got about twenty yards away from him when I realized that it seemed like we weren't walking towards anything, there were no figures standing. That's when I saw it. I figure, in a bright crimson shirt, keeled over on the ground clutching his stomach. "Ryan!" I yelled and ran towards him. I kneeled down next to him, tears gushing from my eyes, as if no one were watching. "Call 911!" I yelled at Troy who with out hesitation pulled out his phone and started rapidly dialing, then he pressed the phone to his ear and started pacing. The sight of Ryan was horrible, his lip was bleeding and there was a bruise around his left eye. His crimson shirt hid the visibility of blood, but I knew it was there because of the sticky warmth I felt through the thin material. I lifted my hand, it was dripping the red liquid of my brother's blood soaked through his shirt. At that moment I wished that I would faint, or pass out or something, but I had to stay awake during this nightmare, because if I didn't, neither would Ryan.

An ambulance arrived about three minutes later, thank god one was near by. By then I had found the spot on Ryan's chest where he was bleeding and applied pressure to it. Troy had to pull me away from Ryan when the paramedics came to take him away. They let Troy and I ride in the ambulance and assured us that he would be fine but it was still horrible. They let me wipe his blood off my hands, but in a way, it was still there, I couldn't help but think that this was my fault, for not staying with him this afternoon, for letting him drink when he came to mom's house, for everything. And it all landed me in an ambulance for the second time this week.

I crossed my arms in the cold chill of the blaring air conditioner, I guess they needed the cool because of their bulky uniforms but to me it was freezing. Troy put his arm around me, giving me a feeling of warmth. "It'll be okay." He whispered. I believed him more than the paramedics for some reason. I felt safer now with Troy protecting me than I felt while being escorted to school by a body guard. It was different than the way I protected myself, I created a box around myself blocking me from the rest of the world. With Troy it was like I was completely exposed to the world, but he helped me stand up when it pushed me down. I know it sounds incredibly corny but it was the way it was.

"Okay miss, you can stay in the waiting room with your friend." One of them said.

I nodded and walked into the hospital, the same feeling too much air conditioning came over me when I stepped inside. I waited for what seemed like forever with Troy with me, just holding my hand and not saying anything. It helped more than it would if he tried to talk now. "Ms. Sharpay Evens?" A lady in a medical coat carrying a clip bard called. "You may go see your brother." She said. She handed me a clip board and I signed as a family member. "Room 153." She said.

"Thanks." I said. I couldn't say much more to her. I repeated the number over and over in my head, when I got to the room Ryan was alone and awake.

"Sharpay…" He started.

"Are you okay?" I asked. It always had to be the first thing I asked, no matter what he put me through I always had to know that he was okay.

"I fractured my rib cage and broke an arm, other than that its just a few bad bruised." He said. "Listen Shar… I wasn't there to buy drugs." He said, he obviously knew that I knew somehow. "I owed them some money from a while ago. I was supposed to have it by today, but I didn't they gave me an extra week… and this." He said.

"I'm not sure I can believe you." I said.

"Sharpay! I know I've been stupid lately but you've got to understand! I don't do drugs!" He said.

"I'll believe it when they give me the DNA analysis." I said. And left, I had nothing more to say to him.

**Okay… I updated pretty quickly this time. As you can probably guess, I suck at fluff. Yeah, at least I'll admit it right? Okay so I don't have much to say after that chapter. I guess nothing perfect can stay for too long right? Okay, so I'm still taking ideas for the call backs, even though I've already received one or two that I think I'm going to use. I'll try to update soon.**


	13. Why Are You Here?

I walked back into the waiting room. "Is everything okay?" Troy asked.

"Ryan is fine. He said that he didn't buy anything from those guys." I said.

"Well I guess that's a good thing." Troy said with a small smile.

"No, you don't understand, he also used to say that he never drank at those parties, and once that was out he said he only drank at those parties." I said. Troy didn't say anything, probably because he couldn't think of a response. "It's not that I don't want to believe him, it's just that he's done this so many times, and he's been here so many times. I don't know what to believe."

"He's your brother, maybe you should just believe in him." Troy said. As if it came straight from a Disney movie (A/N No Comment).

I shrugged. "Well… I don't-"

"Sharpay." Troy said, catching my attention. He pointed behind me and I turned around.

Walking towards me was the least likely person ever, sporting a denim micro mini and a hot pink halter top was Tina Evans, my mother. "Hey honey!" She said, pulling me into a suffocating hug. "Hey Troy, long time no see, please tell me my daughter came to her senses and asked you out." She said. She was thirty two, but she was no Lorelei Gilmore, she was an embarrassing, selfish, Lindsay Lohan type of person… and not quite in a good way (A/N No offence to Lindsay or Lindsay fans).

Troy was put in the hot seat, I knew he would crack. "Um… actually we-"

"We just became friends again… I don't think that'll happen anytime soon mom." I said, I gave Troy a 'don't go there' look. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm here to visit my son." She said.

"No mom, you don't have custody over him and you don't help raise him in any way, so he technically isn't your son." I said, crossing my arms.

"Listen honey, I know you may be mad at me right now but I think that I owe it to you both to be by your side at a time like this." She said, in her plastic sounding voice. It just sounded so fake, I don't know how so many people could even remotely believe it.

"Listen mom, you owe us both a lot of things, but this? This is not one of them." I said to her.

"Honey, I'm your mother, whether you like it or not." She said, trying to sound strict. "And I want to see my son."

"First of all, you're not his mother. And you're not mine either, we live off of child care payments! We're just lucky when you divorced dad we got to keep the house! When was the last time you've actually had a job? I pay for my own clothes with money that I get for working through the whole summer and I can't even buy lunch with out worrying that you forgot to tell me that you borrowed money from my purse to buy vodka!" I said slightly louder than usual.

"Hey, honey just calm down for a second-"

"And that's another thing! Quit calling me honey!" I said angrily. A thought popped into my head. "Tell me mom, what is my name?" I asked.

"Listen, I know I'm not the best mom but-"

"Save the speech for later. You say you're my mother? Then why can't you tell me my name?" I asked. She didn't answer, and that hurt, the pain soon turned to anger. I went to the reception desk. "I want her tested for alcohol, or drugs, or anything." I said angrily.

The receptionist's head popped up. "Well, I think we can squeeze her in now, but that will cost you-"

"I don't care, I'll pay for it." I said.

"Okay, I'll call on of the doctors to take a DNA sample." She said.

I walked back to my 'mom'. "The doctor's will be seeing you shortly." I said crossing my arms.

"What are you doing? Trying to get me into more trouble than I'm already in? I refuse to take the tests." She said angrily.

"Then I'll tell the parole agency about it, I'm sure that there will be nothing optional about it when I tell them that you seemed just a little suspicious." I said.

"Look, just because I've made a few mistakes doesn't mean I'm not your mother." She said.

"You? My mother? You can't even remember my name, which by the way is Sharpay." I said. And before I knew it, a hand flew across my face. She had slapped me. I lost my balance and I fell to the floor.

"Sharpay! Are you okay?" Troy asked, running to my side, my cheek hurt and so did the back of my head, all of a sudden I felt dizzy, the room seemed too get foggy and smaller until it all closed.

**xxxxxxxxxx **

I woke up in a small room. "She's awake." Some one said, I looked, it was Troy.

I touched the back of my head. It still hurt like crazy. "What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out, your head was bleeding pretty badly and you got a few stitches, you'll be fine though." He said. I looked around the room, Ryan was with him. It looked like he had his bed wheeled into my room so he could wait for me to wake up.

"What about my mom?" I asked.

Troy shrugged. "They weren't allowed to tell me, I'm not a blood relative." I said.

I looked towards Ryan. "They tested a strand of her hair, in the past week she has exceeded the amount of alcohol in take that most regular drinkers get in a month, even with all of those parole people watching her all the time. She also tested positive for crack and ecstasy." Ryan said.

"That's not quite surprising." I said. "She couldn't even remember my name." I said.

"So… does this mean you're not still mad at me?" Ryan asked.

I shrugged. "I'll believe you if you tell me what you needed to borrow money from them for." I said.

"I ran away from home and spent all the money they gave me, I spent two days in a youth hostile in New York before the law caught up with me, unfortunately, the law didn't quite pay off my debt." He said. "Those guys cheated me and asked for double the interest. Which basically landed me here. At least those guys were caught, and by law I owe then nothing, I'm thinking of suing them for the exact amount that I owed, just to get on their nerves." Ryan said. Same old Ryan.

"Seems like a legitimate enough story." I said. "So, do you think dad will freak?" I asked.

"Nope, he went on a business trip with Natalie… to the Marriott, if you get what I'm saying" Ryan said.

My eyes widened. "Natalie? As in the intern Natalie? Wow, he left mom for a younger women even though she's already half his age. Making Natalie a fourth of his age."

"Or more importantly, that makes Natalie our age." Ryan pointed out

"Gross! Dad's hooking up with a girl that we could have had gym class with!" I said.

"You know the first thing she said to me? She said 'I've always wanted a teenage son!'" He said, mocking a girl voice.

"Hey, I do recall having a Natalie in my English lit. class last year." I said.

"No way, fake blonde with too tight clothes? Always wearing that stupid NSYNC final tour T-shirt?" Ryan asked.

"Sadly… yes." I said.

"That is just wrong right there." Ryan said.

"Okay, though this is very interesting to listen to, can we please discuss something other than your father's love life?" Troy asked.

"Gladly." I said.

"So when did you two enter friend city again?" Ryan asked.

"Actually, we just took a subway to dating-ville Mew Mexico." I said.

"No way." Ryan said. "It so about time, but what about Gabriella?" He asked.

"Ancient history, we're actually friends now." I said.

"Okay… they should have prepared me for this in rehab." Ryan said and I laughed.

"What about you Bolton?" Ryan asked.

"I'm pretty sure the most recent highlight of his week was finding his beloved GI Joe doll." I joked.

"I thought you were over the GI Joe thing!" Troy laughed.

"Sorry, I passed out, now I have to make up for lost times." I said.

"You were only out for like, four hours." Ryan said.

"What ever." I said. "So what exactly happened to mom?" I asked.

"Back to rehab, and then community service." Ryan answered. "Oh, and by the way, the search warrant is up so you no longer have an excuse to room with our boyfriend."

"I wasn't rooming with him! I was just staying in his house!" I said. "And besides, I never would have had to stay there if _somebody_ decided to turn my house into Kentucky fried kitchen!" I snapped back.

"Hey, for the record, that was mom's fault." He said. "And at least you're safe now."

He had a point, I was safely in a room with the two guys in this world that I can remotely trust. Honestly, life was good at that moment, even though I was strapped to a bed and connected to an IV tube.

**Okay, this is a somewhat happy ending. I don't think the story will be too much longer unless I find something else to add in. I'm thinking of adding a sequel though. I looked over some of the free write fiction I did for school and one of the teacher grading it said 'you used the word said too much' and nothing else… technical much! At least you guys are nicer than the evil teachers who have something against the word said. I do use the word said too much but seriously what about the content? What a rip off. This chapter was a little shorter than usual but I think it works. I updated twice today, must be having some kind of a writer's brain storm type thing... Hope u guyz liked it. BYEZ!! **


	14. Someday maybe

**This is sort of an epilogue, kind of how things end up. I think I'm going to do a sequel, I already have a vague idea of the plot. I'll put a trailer at the end… tell me what you think and if you can… suggest anything. I own none of the songs in this chapter.**

A week passed and Ryan got out of the hospital, he actually didn't need a sling for some reason, I guess they over estimated it. It was Friday at just about 7:30 pm. Remember what was supposed to happen then? Final call backs. I looked through the curtains, it was way crowded. Since the break through last year with the whole 'breaking free' thing all the musicals were a big hit.

I didn't go all out for this final audition concerning wardrobe, a simple white knee length boho skirt, a light pink tank top and a white cropped jacket that tied at the front. IT wasn't that this wasn't a big deal (because it was a HUGE deal) but I wanted o focus on my vocals. Everyone already knew I could act, heck, I taught Gabriella how to act, but my new and improved vocals that could rival hers were really what it came down too. I didn't mind getting the supporting lead, but getting the lead would be awesome, just to know that I could make it.

"Are you scared?" Troy asked while watching Chad and Taylor dance to a techno pop beat and occasionally added in their voices. Even though it was supposed to be a song audition, the audience was intrigued enough to hope that they got their roles.

"Um… no, I'm just thinking of what life would be like in a university instead of an art school." Which for me, was one of the scariest things to consider.

Troy squeezed my shoulders, sending shivers down my spine. "It'll be okay, they'll love you." He insisted.

"Yeah, but it's the scouts I'm worried about." I said quietly. A roar of applause came from the audience, Chad and Taylor bowed and ran off stage, next was Ryan and Gabriella, who (no surprise) picked a slow song. What really got me was that it was A Whole New World from Aladdin, she was taking this whole Disney princess thing a little too far, though it was sort of boring, the quality of performance was top notch, scaring me even more.

"The scouts are looking for quality, originality, and something that keeps the audience watching." Troy said. "You have this covered." I looked over at Ryan and Gabriella on stage they were doing stage movements that reminded me of ballet, fragile and meant to look lonely.

"It's just that my whole future is banking on this musical." I said.

"No it's not Shar, you got what? Eighteen leads in school musicals? Do you think that those fancy art colleges would risk not giving you a scholarship?" He asked.

"Eighteen school musicals only to be knocked out of the spotlight by something new and better." I said, watching Gabriella drift to the middle of the stage in a huge, dramatic gesture. I always felt guilty around her because she still didn't know about Troy and me yet, after having a long talk about it we decided that the school wasn't quite ready to hear it yet, they were still getting over the whole break up, some people even started a rumor that they were getting back together, they wand it so much that they let themselves believe it even though we all told them that it was a lie.

"She's not better, only different. And will you quit watching them? You're going to psych yourself out if you keep on watching." He said.

"I am going to look like such a freak tomorrow at school if I mess this thing up." I said. "We only started practicing last week!"

"So did Ryan and Gabriella! And they're doing a pretty good job." Troy reasoned.

"But Gabriella has been singing that song since the stupid movie came out, and Ryan is a fast learner." I said. "I think I'm hyperventilating. Maybe I should just quit."

"No way Shar, you'll be great." He pulled me away from the curtain into the sticky, sweaty back stage area. "Look, I was going to save this for after the performances, but here." He said, handing me a small envelope.

I opened it, inside were two pieces of paper… tickets? "Troy, are these-"

"To the dance? Yeah. I thought that you could use a break from all of this crap, and what better way than to dance to a teacher approved music and drink koolaid mixed with sprite?" He asked.

Usually I would go along with the sarcasm thing but this was different. "This is a big deal Troy. You do know that everyone will know about us after that right?" I asked.

"They'll get over it, but every year at homecoming I wished that you would go with me, and every year at home coming I went alone." He said with a smile.

"What about the year you were with Gabriella?" I asked.

"I told her that I had to go alone, she wasn't too happy about it but she let me go on my own, this dance is completely reserved for you." He said holding up my chin.

I was honestly touched by this. I couldn't put it into words at that moment so I did what any other girl would do. I jumped into his arms and rapped my legs around his waist in a full on super-hug. "I love you Troy Bolton." I whispered into his ear. I know that may have been a little bit sudden after about a week of dating, but I had to say it.

"I love you too." He whispered back. We heard the roar of applause and the sound of people waking up from the nap time that was their song choice. "I think that's out cue, are you ready for this?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think I am." I said, forcing myself out of his arms.

We walked through the stage wings into the heat of the stage lights. I nodded to Kelsi, who pressed play on the stereo. I looked out into the crowd and I flew into stage mode, the adrenalin rush of being on front of people took over and I knew that I was ready. "Ninety miles outside Chicago, can't stop driving I don't know why, so many questions, I need an answer, two years later you're still on my mind" I sang.

"Whatever happened to Amelia Earheart? Who holds the stars up in the sky? Is true love just once in a lifetime?" Troy sang out.

"Did the captain of the Titanic cry?" We sang in a perfect harmony. Troy took my hand in his and we stepped apart, not really choreography but still fun to watch, I decided to leave my tap shoes at home and be judged on pure talent, not on all the frills that I decided to add. "Oh, someday we'll know"

"If love can move a mountain" I sang.

"Someday we'll know" I looked into Troy's eyes as we connected into another flawless harmony. I don't know if anyone was focusing, but his eyes gave away that he was too happy to be singing this.

"Why the sky is blue" He smiled secretly to me.

"Someday we'll know, why I wasn't meant for you..." We sang together, I almost wanted to yell 'yes I am meant for you, they just don't know it yet' but of course I couldn't.

This feeling that I usually forgot was why I loved acting so much, it was like it completed me. We sang on, with more perfect pitches, extra high notes and secretive smiles, sort of making it up as we went along, but still when the song ended, a blast of applause came from the audience, I bowed and walked off stage hand in hand with Troy. From then on, I knew things would be okay.

**Okay, it's over. The entire story is over. I'd just like to thank all you guys who read and/or reviewed. Wow… it's so weird having to start a new story, and I can assure you that I will start a new story. I'd like to thank stessa for suggesting the song someday we'll know and for the major support. Ditto everyone else who suggested a song and/or gave me support, I wish I had enough energy to list all of you guys' names. But unfortunately I don't. :-( Just know that I owe a lot to you guys, it was so surprising to see all you guys reading this, I only really expected like twenty reviews for this story at most. But thank you guys sooooo much for everything.**

Okay, so I sort of have an idea or a sequel so I'm adding a mini trailer just so you guys can tell me what you think. Okay?

You know the drill. _Italics are actions._ **Bold is the voice commentary or whatever.** "And quotes are quotes."

**After all the drama**

_Shows Sharpay and Troy running towards Ryan who is lying motionless in the middle of a field_

**After the play**

_Shows Troy, Sharpay, Ryan, Gabriella, Chad, and Taylor holding hands and bowing_

**Comes the next big thing in their lives.**

_Shows Sharpay reading a letter outside her house. _"Troy! I made it! I made it into Hollywood!"

_Shows the gang boarding a plane._

_Shows them walking into an empty dorm._

**What if something they all hoped to forget…**

_Shows Sharpay falling backwards._

_Shows her in a hospital bed._

_Shows a women walking towards Troy and Sharpay, Troy steps on front of Sharpay. _"What? Can't a mother visit her own daughter at college anymore?"

**Came back at the worst possible moment?**

_Shows Sharpay Talking to her mom. _"Things are finally good for me, you can't just come here now and expect me to be happy to see you."

"I'm your mother, I can do anything I want."

**Old flames will be rediscovered.**

_Shows Gabriella alone in a room with Troy. _"I'm sorry things ended the way they did, I just wish I knew if it really would have worked out or not."

_Shows Sharpay fighting with Troy. _"I know all about her Troy, don't try to pretend like you don't."

"What?"

**Old problems will be brought back.**

_Shows Tina handing Ryan a bottle. _"I can't do this… I promised."

"We're the same Ryan, you and me. They just don't understand."

**And old secrets will surface.**

_Shows Troy approaching Sharpay. _"I should have told you, I know."

"Then why didn't you!?"

_Troy sees Sharpay in tears and walks away._

**LovinLife4Ever proudly presents… Atheist of Love 2: Do You Remember?**

Okay… just ideas for the sequel… tell me what you think.


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